The Collector
by Cheese1
Summary: A pretty angsty fic, roughly based on the movie Kiss the girls... Will the team be able to solve a very personal case? Rating may change. NOW FINISHED!
1. Chapter 1

Okay... here we got another one... I already posted it at the ABY, so some people may know it already. It is not yet finished, but there are some chapter ready so far. Right at the moment I am concentrating more on Don't be scared... but sad, but true, it will be finished after another couple of chapters (which is hilarious, it was planned to be a shortie ;) **LOL**)

So I hope by posting The Collector here, I get the needed inspiration to go on with this fanfiction, as well as with Lilac, another ongoing story that I had to abandon a bit... but I am working on the next chapter – I swear!

Here we go, this one is called The Collector and is roughly inspired by Kiss the Girls (I've only seen the movie with Ashley Judd and Morgan Freeman, I don't know the book, altough I plan to read it...)

Disclaimer: Of course I do not own Bones, sad but true... I do whoever own the new characters I invent in my stories.

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**_The Collector…_**

**_Chapter 1 – Trapped_**…

There was a sound… the first thing she sensed was that sound. After some time she identified it as the muffled sound of a radio that was playing in another room... too far away to make out words.

The next thing she sensed was, that she was lying on something hard...and that her left leg hurt like hell. She tried to open her eyes, although it hurt to do so. A single light bulb was dangling from the ceiling and when her eyes had adjusted to the light she could make out details... not that there were many of them.

It was an nearly empty small room, with concrete floor and naked walls. Since there was no window she assumed it had to be a cellar. There was a table with a single chair and she could see from her place on the floor that there was a bottle with water on it. She looked around and saw that she was lying on a blanket, a pillow nearby. Pain was searing through her leg when she tried to get to her feet. She fell back on the blanket, cursing under her breath. She examined her leg and saw that there was deep gash on her thigh. It started to bleed again, now that she had moved. She looked around for a moment, then grabbed the pillow and removed the cover, tore it in two pieces and dressed the wound as good as she could.

She finally got to her feet and made her way to the table, slow and staggering, but she reached it. She collapsed onto the chair and reached for the bottle, but then she saw that a single white sheet of paper had been placed on the table. Her hands shook when she unfolded it and she read the message:

"Dear Dr. Brennan,

you should have stopped looking... Now you belong to me... You are going to die here, but I think you already knew... how unfair you have more information on what is going to happen to you than all my other collectibles... I will visit you soon, my dear doctor...

Yours sincerely,

The collector..."

She swallowed hard, trying to blink back the tears that threatened to come.

'He got me... that sick bastard got me' were her last coherent thoughts before drifting into unconsciousness.

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so, I know that was not more than a little teaser, right?? Second chapter coming soonish ;)

Please let me know what you think!!!!


	2. Chapter 2

Okay... here we go, the second chapter... now we will learn a bit more HOW Brennan ended up in that cell...

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**_Chapter 2 – The women…_**

Temperance Brennan regained consciousness only minutes later, but she did not know, since there was no possibility for her to measure time in the small chamber. She was still sitting on the chair, her head and arms resting on the table... slowly she sat up.

She could not believe he got her... They had been hunting that sick bastard for weeks now and finally he had got her instead. She shook her head. She was a realistic person and she knew that she was in a hopeless position.

The Collector had been kidnapping young women for months, he left no traces, he made no mistakes... the only thing they found were the messages The Collector had left. She recalled the last message they had found at Celine Brown's apartment "I always wanted a ballerina... "

He always left messages like that... "Found a girl to play the guitar for me..." or "Needed a red haired for my collection..." All signed with Yours sincerely, The Collector.

She sighed. Then, eight weeks ago, they had found the first body... only bones left and that was where she had come in.

She had identified the woman as Maude Brezsinksi, a pianist, 25 years old, her father Pawel Brezsinksi had been a famous polish pianist. The note for Maude had read "Skilled fingers are always useful..." when she had disappeared.

The Collector had also placed a note nearby the remains... this note had read "Collectible replaced"

They now had found four bodies with such a note... "Collectible replaced", one only the day before. Some of them had died only some days before their discovery, others had been dead for weeks. They had been undernourished and some of them appeared to be severally beaten. Two of them had bruises that indicated rape... although they could not find DNA... obviously he had used a condom. Other bodies – such as Maude's - had been too decomposed to find out if they had been raped too. All of them had been strangled to death.

Maude Brezsinksi had not been the first woman to disappear, she had been missing for four months when her body was found. They had found out that she had been dead for 4 weeks when the body had been discovered, but the heat and the surrounding area had quickened the decomposing.

The bodies appeared on different places, obviously randomly chosen. There seemed to be no pattern in the dates of the kidnapping of the women and their death, but usually The Collector replaced his "collectibles" within a few days.

Obviously the replacement for Anna DiMartino, the young cheerleader they had found dead the day before, had been chosen quickly: Dr. Temperance Brennan, the forensic anthropologist and writer.

Brennan briefly wondered, what "her" note read... and who was going to find it. Booth? Angela? She shuddered, when she thought about her partner and her best friend. They would do anything to find her, but The Collector had never made a mistake so far...

Then she reached for the bottle of water still standing on the table. She had to try to stay as strong as possible... just in case there was a way to escape.

Although she had no hope when she looked around in her dimly lit cell.

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Sooooo, what do you say? Like it? Or not? 


	3. Chapter 3

and Chapter 3... not Brennan's POV this time, but Booth / the team

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**_Chapter 3 – Full of worries…_**

"Angela!" Booth jogged after the artist, which turned around. "Hi, Booth!" 

"Angela, have you seen Bones?" Booth asked the best friend of his partner.

Angela looked confused "No...I thought you were off for a case together, when you both did not show up in the morning."

"Actually I left her a message to meet me at Anna DiMartino's house since it's near her apartment... but she did not show up. Of course I had to talk to the DiMartino's first, but then I called her... she did not pick up... So I thought she would be here..." Booth's voice trailed away. She was not here... Angela had told him already. She had not been at the DiMarino's and she did not answer her cell phone.

"Hold on, I call at her apartment" Angela said "Maybe she just slept in or something." Her voice did not sound convincing in Booth's ears.

Angela dialled the number and waited, after some time she shook her head. "Only the answering machine..." Booth and Angela exchanged worried looks.

"I am going to check at her apartment, Angela... if you hear something, call me immediately!"

Booth stormed out of the lab. There was this notion, this certain notion that was nagging on him. "Let her be asleep or in a meeting with her lecturer or at her mother's grave... I do not care... " he murmured.

Minutes later he left his car in front of her building... he saw that her car was parked in the usual place and mumbled "Asleep or in the shower... yeah, just taking a shower..."

Finally he was standing in front of her apartment door and was about to knock, when his gaze fell on a folded white sheet of paper lying in front of the door. His jaw dropped and his heart skipped a beat. "No, no, no!" he muttered, the paper looked too familiar.

His hands were trembling when he reached for it, but then he stopped and rummaged in his pocket for the gloves Brennan had insisted on having with him all the time. He put the gloves on and carefully unfolded the paper.

"She had not been on my list,

but will surely enrich my collection for some time...

Yours sincerely

The Collector"

Booth closed his eyes, he did not want to look at those words, he did not want to acknowledge that his partner, his Bones had been kidnapped by The Collector. But the words had already imprinted themselves and he could not shut them out.

"Oh Bones..." he whispered, trying to force back the urge to scream, cry and punch the wall at the same time. "Oh Bones..." He took in a deep breath and tried to calm down. 'Think, think, think. Freaking out does not help her... '

He folded the paper again and carefully dropped it in a plastic bag. Then he called the FBI to get some CSIs over to her apartment to secure traces... if there were any.

After making the call he had to do something he dreaded... he had to call Angela... Angela who cared about Brennan as much as he did. He tried to brace himself for the conversation and dialled the number.

"Booth? Did you find her?" Angela had recognised the number on the display.

"No... Angela... I am sorry, but ... I found a note at her apartment door... It's... it's... Oh God..." His own emotions overwhelmed him and he could not say it.

"The Collecter" Angela completed... a hardly audible whisper.

Booth swallowed hard "Yes" he confirmed, his voice raspy.

"Oh God... Bren..." he heard Angela sob and he had to muster all his strength not to join her.

After some time he said through gritted teeth. "We will do our best, Angela... We have to find her. We will get that sick bastard and if it's the last thing I do... As soon as they find something I'll come over with it for Hodgins and you to work on it... okay?"

Angela mumbled something in agreement. After a short time he heard her whisper his name "Booth?"

"Yes."

"What about Bren's father... shall we... inform him?" Angela asked.

Booth sighed, he had not thought of it, but it was true, he needed to get informed officially. "I'll take care of it, Angela. Now, tell the others... I'll come to the lab later, okay?" He waited for her to say "Yes" and hung up.

Then he dialled another number and waited until somebody answered, then he said

"Special Agent Seeley Booth, FBI... I need to speak to Max Keenan, it's very urgent... No it can't wait and yes I know that normally you can not just call prisoners like that, but it is very important... "

While he waited to get to talk with the right person, he heard sirens coming near. He closed his eyes... 'What a nightmare'.

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Uh-oh... poor Booth. What will they find inside the apartment?

REVIEWS make me VERY happy ;)


	4. Chapter 4

here we go... next chapter... what is Booth going to find inside of the apartment??? Darcyli - thanks for your review!!!!

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Chapter 4 – traces...

"Agent Booth?" One of the CSIs was calling his name. Booth turned around, he was still standing outside Brennan's apartment. He had just finished a call and had preferred to stay outside the apartment until the CSIs had done their work.

Now he went inside for the first time. "Yeah?" he asked, not sure which of the men had called his name.

"Over here please, Agent Booth... We found blood." An elderly man motioned for him to come into the kitchen. At the sound of the word blood, Booth's heart skipped a beat, but he fought down the emotions and joined the young CSI.

He gazed down on the floor which was besmeared with blood and he simply knew it was her blood. He did not need a DNA test or anything for proof, he felt it... her blood. He swallowed hard. "We may be able to restore footprints, at least partial ones..." the man told him, while pointing to the respective blood stains.

"We also found this here, Agent Booth." He presented a bagged kitchen knife, the blade was covered in blood.

Booth briefly closed his eyes, then said "Okay. I want these things to get transported to the Jeffersonian. I know you could do these investigations too, but the people there are the colleagues of my partner and they need something to concentrate on, something to do... I think you understand me?"

"Sure... That won't be a problem, we have plenty of work left even without this case." The man answered.

"Thank you. I need all the pictures too." Booth pointed towards a young man who had been taking pictures. The CSI simply nodded and Booth. "Anything else?"

"We found some blood stains in the hall, but not much... We have plenty of fingerprints, but if it's really been The Collector I doubt there will be any of him... Whose fingerprints will we find in here, just to make it easier for us... ?"

"Dr. Brennans... mine... Ms. Angela Montenegro, maybe Agent Sullivan... " Booth recalled absently, his eyes still fixed on the kitchen knife. 'This is not his usual procedure... he never attacked, he drugs them or something like that... Maybe it was Bones who first had the kitchen knife, fighting him... but I know, I simply know this is her blood.'

"Agent Booth?" The man asked, obviously he had said something, but Booth had been lost in thoughts. "Sorry, what did you say?" Booth asked apologetically.

"I said we are finished here... All evidence will be transported to the Jeffersonian, as you requested... EHhm... I hope you can find her, good luck, Agent Booth." He added awkwardly.

Booth heard the doubt in the man's voice, but he appreciated the effort... he nodded and thanked the man, with one last look on Brennan's apartment he left.

When Booth arrived at the Jeffersonian, he told Angela, Hodgins and Zach that all evidence would be at their lab soon and they all sighed in relief... finally something to do, to distract them.

"Where's Cam?" Booth asked Angela, which pointed wordlessly towards Cam's office.

He knocked and opened without waiting for her answer. "Cam?"

She looked up at him and he could see, that even Cam, just like Angela had been crying. She might not be Brennan's best friend, but they had grown to respect each other, maybe even really like each other and to know that a man who raped and murdered women had her in his grip, hurt her.

"Cam... We will get pictures of her ap... of the scene soon... I want you to have a look at them" Booth stumbled over his words... he could not say 'her apartment' he'd rather go with 'the scene'.

'That's something Bones would do... rationalise it, shut the personal stuff out...'he thought.

"Why?" Cam asked him, looking confused.

"They found blood... and that's more your territory, isn't it?" he tried to force a smile on his face, but did not succeed.

"Oh no..." Cam gave him a worried look, but added an instant later "I'll do my best..."

Booth nodded. "There's also a kitchen knife with blood on the blade, I need a DNA on that... They will also send us fingerprints, but I doubt they will find any from The Collector... there'll be Bones', mine, Angela's maybe Sully's..." he sighed.

"But at least something to work on" Cam remarked and Booth nodded. "Yes... something to work on..."

"Booth?" Angela called from outside Cam's office "They are here..."

Booth and Cam looked at each other and left her office.

Some minutes later they all were staring at the pictures of Brennan's kitchen floor. Angela let out a stifled gasp.

"We do not know if it is her blood yet, Angela." Hodgins tried to calm her down, but Booth quietly said. "It is."

"How can you know?" Zach asked him incredulously.

Booth shrugged. "I just know. I ... knew it when I saw it. It is hers. You will of course have to test the DNA, but... I feel it."

Everybody was silent. Despite their need to prove everything, to have facts nobody really doubted Booth's gut, especially not when it came to 'his Bones'.

"Cam" Booth addressed the woman near him "I need you to tell me... whatever you can find out with this picture. First of all... is this ...the blood, I mean..." For a moment the emotions overwhelmed him and he could not ask the question he wanted to.

Cam looked at him. "I don't think that this is enough blood to come from a mortal wound. You said they only found small and few blood stains in the hall and on the stairs... I assume it did not bleed very strong. Of course it depends on the kind of wound and where she got wounded."

Booth sighed in relief. He had seen worse, he sure as hell had seen things that were thousand times worse than a puddle of blood on the floor... but it was Bones' blood and that was what affected him that much. And the fact that he had not known if the blood loss had been mortal.

"Stabbed." Angela whispered.

They turned around to look at her. She cleared her throat "The kind of wound... stabbed." She pointed towards the bagged kitchen knife and the others understood.

"Check the blade for DNA too... maybe she was able to wound her attacker first. She's a fighter." Booth's voice sounded a bit hoarse.

Cam nodded and turned towards her team. "We will do our best, right?" They all nodded wordlessly.

"Good... Angela could you please try to restore the footprints here and here" Cam indicated the partial bloody footprints on the picture. "And Zach, you'll do the check on the fingerprints? Angela will have to give you hers for comparison. Hodgins, you will work on that knife... and I am going to run the DNA for the blood on the floor" She looked at Booth "Just to make sure."

They all nodded and left to work with the few evidences they had, trying to keep their minds busy, so that they had no time to think of Brennan.

Booth watched them all run off in different directions, busily working and sighed. "I am going to look at the video tapes... I'll use Bones' office if that is okay?" he asked Cam and she just nodded in approval.

Booth went over to Brennan's office and held his breath for a moment, when he entered. It smelled of her and that was both distracting and comforting. 'She is not gone... we will find her.' He thought and started to watch the video tape.

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dun-dun... What do you think? 


	5. Chapter 5

thanks to everyone who took the time to read and review!!! Here we go, there's the next part...

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Chapter 5 – still trapped...

Brennan looked around… her cell was small…. Too small. She never had had problems to be in small rooms, but this situation was of course different… she had been in the cell for hours or at least she thought it had been hours.  
There was nothing for her to help her measure time… not one little thing. No window, no clock, not even a change in sounds or temperature… everything remained the same. She had been in a similar situation before, stuck in a cell with nothing for her to occupy her mind, to distract her from worrying about her prospects.  
But this situation even seemed to be worse: She KNEW she was going to die if not Booth and 'her squints' discovered where she was…. She was a rational thinking person and she knew that it was very unlikely for them to do so.

She knew that The Collector was going to hurt her, to terrorize her, maybe starve her, maybe rape her and finally to kill her…. All of this frightened her, but what frightened her most was the prospect to die. There were so many things she wanted to do… And she had a family, a very unusual kind of family she wanted to be with. She wanted to live to be with them. Finally she had found something to live for...

Pictures of them popped up in her head. Angela, Hodgins, Zach, even Cam and of course Booth. Booth who had always been there for her in these past years, helping her out of every bad situation she had gotten herself in. Or faith, or her family...

She swallowed hard and licked her dry lips. She tried to force back the thoughts of her friends and her gaze focussed on the bottle of water. It was nearly empty, although she had tried to drink slowly…. She was thirsty, so thirsty and she knew that it had to be the influence of the drug he had given her… just as the memory loss and her headache.

She had tried to recall what had happened, how he had got her, but she remembered nothing after unlocking and opening her apartment door. She stretched her aching body and the sudden pain in her leg reminded her, that she was wounded. She examined the wound once again and decided that it had to be caused by a knife.  
A picture, a memory suddenly hit her: A kitchen knife…. In her hand. The blade was covered in blood… then there was only black again. The moment was over and she could not recall anything.

The frustration made her clench her fist and punch the table angrily. She hated the situation she was in… even more so because she could recall Booth telling her to be more careful, that he would drive her home to make sure she would be safe….

She had refused and teased him about his overprotective alpha male behaviour. That had been last evening… after some time of bickering they had agreed on meeting at the home of the DiMartino's and said Good-bye.  
She snorted. 'I should have trusted his instinct… even though I do not really believe in 'gut feelings' … I should have trusted HIM.'

She briefly closed her eyes and made a decision. 'I am going to trust him NOW…. I know he is going to do everything to find me. He is not going to give up… he has never given up before and he is not going to give up now. And Angela…. Jack, Zach… they are not going to give up.'

She looked around in her small cell, taking in every little detail. She was going to do her best to keep herself sane and strong enough to survive as long as possible. She rose and started to measure the cell, step by step. 'Always try to know as much as possible about your surroundings!' she told herself.

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please let me know, what you think!!!!


	6. Chapter 6

Here we go, Chapter 6 is up... Thanks for the reviews, sweeties!!!!!

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**_Chapter 6 – focus..._**

Brennan sighed. She now knew that her cell was approximately 3 by 4,5 meters, height about 2 meters. She had been examining the heavy iron door and knew that there were two openings. The bigger one was just above the floor and she assumed that her kidnapper was going to use it to supply her with water, maybe food... as long as he wanted her to stay alive.

The other opening was a little slit at eye-level, clearly he would use that to check on her. Both openings were closed now and of course they could not be opened from her side of the door.

Brennan had also examined the chair and the table... wooden, cheap, in use for some time, but not really old. She knew the text on the back of the now empty bottle of water by heart.

She tried to invent something that may help her measure time, but she could not think of anything... the noise of the muffled radio had died some time ago and now there really was nothing left for her to distract herself from realising how hopeless her situation was.

Suddenly she heard a noise... a scream, a female voice. She shuddered.

Obviously The Collector tortured one of his... collectibles. She briefly closed her eyes, wondering when it was going to be her turn. Furiously she shook her head, that was not the way to survive!

She grabbed the empty plastic bottle and read the text on the back again, trying to focus on it to shut out the occasional, now muffled screams she heard.

'Fresh spring water from...'

"God damn... that asshole..." Booth exclaimed and punched the couch in Brennan's office. Once... twice... then he collapsed onto it and buried his head in his hands. 'Calm down... calm down... You need to calm down to be able to help her!'

He heard a shy voice from the door. "Agent Booth?" Booth inhaled slowly and turned towards the door to look at Zach.

"Yeah?" he asked.

Zach sighed and presented him a sheet of paper. "I was able to identify all the fingerprints that have been secured..." Booth looked down at the sheet of paper and nodded... not a big surprise there, all fingerprints belonged to Brennan, Angela, Sully and him.

"Ahmmmm Agent Booth... what was that punching the couch about?" Zach asked curiously.

Booth sighed and pointed towards the screen. "That's what all tapes look like." The screen was black. "The bastard managed to manipulate every single camera in the building and at the parking lot." Booth spoke through gritted teeth.

"Oh." Zach commented. "That is not helpful."

Booth closed his eyes. "Exactly."

"Seeley?" Cam's voice could be heard from somewhere outside Brennan's office. "We have got something!"

Booth jumped to his feet and hurried outside Brennan's office, nearly knocking over Zach.

He reached the platform where Hodgins and Cam were standing, looking at a screen.

"What is it, Cam?" Booth asked.

"The blood on the floor really was Dr. Brennan's... I am sorry." Cam started, impatiently interrupted by Booth. "Yeah, what else?"

"The blood on the blade ... was not only hers. Unfortunately it mingled and so I could not extract a DNA so far, but I'll try something new... For now all I can definitely tell is, that Dr. Brennan managed to hurt her attacker and that he is male..."

Booth nodded. He had already known the attacker was male, but it was somehow comforting to know Brennan managed to hurt her attacker before. On the other side the majority of the blood they had found had been hers, so she had paid a high price for wounding The Collector.

He sighed. "Okay... Please concentrate on that DNA-extracting thing, Hodgins. We need to find out more.

"Booth!" Angela raced around a corner, a print-out in her hand. "I was able to restore the footprints. Those are Jack Wolfskin Crosshike shoes, size 12.5."

"Never heard of that." Booth shook his head.

"You can only get them in Europe... and it's new model, came out about 5 months ago... So The Collector was in Europe ... the first reported kidnapping was ... " she checked on another sheet "4 months and 3 weeks ago. Our kidnapper was in Europe, in the first week of May."

"Or somebody brought the shoes for him." Zach objected.

"I don't think so. They cost 160 dollars. Would you buy them without trying them on? I certainly would not!" Angela answered.

"Good." Booth said and nodded. "But we need more. We can't interrogate every guy who happened to be in Europe that time, but it may help us later."

The others nodded in agreement,. At least Angela's discovery had given them the comfort of a small success.

"The tapes?" Angela asked.

Booth shook his head. "Useless. He manipulated all cameras. I am going to leave now and ask around in the whole neighbourhood. He must have been around there for some time, this was carefully planned. Maybe somebody saw something..."

He left the platform and grabbing his jacket he looked back over his shoulder at the squints. "Call me as soon as you find something!"

Angela smiled wryly. 'As soon, not if. He trusts us to find out more... and we will!' She thought.

"Let's get going!" she said.

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Please let me know, what you think!!!!


	7. Chapter 7

Thanks for the reviews... Here we go, the next chapter... the last one of the chapters I had already written out...

A longer one this time ;)

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Chapter 7:

Booth parked his car beside Brennan's. To see her car in the usual spot made him clench his fists. He recalled the conversation they had had the evening before. Was it really just some hours ago? It seemed like a lifetime to him. He should have been more persuasive, he should have insisted on driving her home. Booth briefly closed his eyes and he could nearly hear her voice in his head: "Booth, I am driving with MY car to MY apartment, just as I do EVERYDAY... there is no need for you to be overprotective..."  
Booth sighed and opened his door to enter the building to interrogate Bones' neighbours.

He decided to start with the apartments on the same floor as Brennan's, her direct neighbours. After knocking on the first door for some time without an answer he turned towards the next door and knocked again. After some time he heard the voice of an elderly woman shouting : "Patience, patience. I am old." He made out slow steps coming near the door and the voice asked him for his name and purpose. "I am special agent Seeley Booth with the FBI, madam." He showed his badge through the spyhole and continued. "Yesterday there was an incident at your neighbours apartment and I would like to ask you some questions, if you don't mind?"

The elderly woman opened the door reluctantly and eyed him suspiciously, but also curiously. "The scientist, right?"

"Dr. Temperance Brennan, yes" Booth pointed at the door of the apartment in question. "Did you maybe notice something unusual?"

"Besides the fact that the whole hall was jammed with people all morning? Nah, not really... You must know without this" she pointed towards her hearing device "I am nearly deaf. And I don't make a habit of spying on my neighbours." Her voice was like acid.

Booth suppressed a snort. He had enough experience with people to know that justifications without asking for them seldom came without a little feeling of guilt. And he knew that elderly people living alone had little things to distract themselves.  
'Play the game, Booth!' he told himself and flashed her the best charm smile he could muster up in his recent state. "Of course not, Madam, I would never assume that. But sometimes living close to other people brings a little knowledge of each other with it..."

The elderly woman seemed to relax a bit at the sound of his words. "Well... to be honest... It so happens I heard raised voices yesterday evening, but don't ask me what time... but after a few moments it was quiet again. I could not make out a single word... I mean... not that I was trying..." she stumbled over her own words.

"No, of course not, Madam... you were merely noticing raised voices, I understand." Booth encouraged her to go on. "Maybe you accidentally noticed how many different voices?"

"A man and the doctor... Odd woman that is... " the old woman grumbled.

Booth cleared his throat and tried to fight down his urge to shout at the old woman. "Oh?"

"A woman that age should be married, that's what I am saying... don't you think so? And something is odd about that woman, I am telling you... Sorry, what has been you name? You look familiar, now that I am thinking of it?" The woman's eyes narrowed a bit.

"Agent Booth, madam. I sometimes work with Dr. Brennan." Booth answered.

"Yes. I know, I know ... you have been here sometimes. So, so... working with her, that's what you call it these days?" She shook her head and muttered something Booth did not understand, although he could make out words that sounded suspiciously like 'disgusting', 'Young people' and 'good old time'. He briefly closed his eyes and counted to three.

"Don't you want to tell me what happened? Did she get herself into trouble? Wouldn't be a surprise... Living alone, ain't no proper thing for a woman, I tell you! And working with dead people, disgusting, mark my words..." the woman started to ramble.

"Dr. Brennan has been kidnapped." Booth pressed the words through gritted teeth.

"See! Ain't no proper thing for a woman that age to live alone... What? Kidnapped? Here? In MY HOUSE?" Only now the elderly neighbour seemed to be shocked.

"I am afraid that's the truth" Booth confirmed.

"But... This has always been a good neighbourhood! I am telling you! This odd woman working with dead bodies! Brings kidnappers to our house! What are you doing to protect us now, eh? How can I be sure nothing is going to happen to me, eh?" The old woman pointed at him accusingly with her arthritic index finger.

That was too much for Booth's self control. His eyes went dark with anger and his voice dropped to a dangerous tone when he said:  
"I can assure you that Dr. Brennan did not choose to get kidnapped and that it is not her fault that this happened. She helps to solve crimes, maybe you should honour this a bit!  
And though I am not allowed to speak about ongoing investigations I can assure you that the kidnapper in question is not the least bit interested in old hags! Thank you for your so-called co-operation."

He turned around to the stairs, to go down at the floor below, his ears ringing with the old woman's curses, accusations and complaints about the young people of today, somewhere in the middle silenced by her apartment door slammed shut.

He nearly ran into a man of about forty years who was just coming up, an fidgeting with his apartment key. "Sorry" the man mumbled, looked at Booth and recognition dawned on his face. "Oh... you are Dr. Brennan's work partner, aren't you?"

Booth stopped and nodded. "Yes, Special Agent Booth. And you are..."

"James Pond. With P, not B." He smiled. "That's my apartment" He pointed towards the door Booth had been knocking at without success. "Is this about Dr. Brennan? That's why all the people have been here?"

Booth nodded again. "Yes. There was an... incident last night and I would like to ask you some questions if possible."

"No problem" Mr. Pond agreed "Come on in. The old crone surely is eavesdropping again."

A hardly audible grunt from behind the apartment door on their left side confirmed his statement. Pond grinned and shrugged, then unlocked his apartment door and motioned for Booth to come in.

A few moments later they were sitting in Pond's living room. Pond cleared his throat and said: "Well you already had the pleasure to meet the old crone. Horrible person. Don't believe a word she says. All she can do is whine about the good old time and how horrible the young people of today are."

"Got a first-hand impression of that." Booth agreed. "Well, Mr. Pond. The reason for me being here is... It seems there was a break-in into Dr. Brennan's apartment last night. She is missing. Now I would like to ask you if you noticed anything unusual last night or last evening?"

"Nope, sorry, man. I would really like to help, but I've been working at the hospital, night shift. I came home at 4:30 this morning and everything was quiet. I woke up somewhat around 10:00 when I heard people in the hall, I guess those were your people, right?"

Booth nodded. "Did you notice anything when you came home? We do not know when exactly the kidnapping took place, so it might help us to establish a time window..."

Pond frowned a bit obviously thinking hard, but after a few minutes he shook his head. "Nope, sorry... I've been pretty worn out and tired... Shit... I am sorry that I can't help you. I hope you find her... she's cool."

Booth only nodded and thanked Pond for his time, leaving him his card. "You might want to talk to Sandy from downstairs. She's got the apartment directly underneath Dr. Brennan's. Sandy Nichols. Maybe she knows something. Good luck, Agent Booth."

Booth sighed and thanked him again, then went downstairs to talk to Sandy Nichols.

He knocked at her door and soon afterwards a young blond woman with sympathetic green eyes opened. "Hi" she grinned at him. "Wrong floor!"

"Sorry?" Booth asked confused.

"Well, usually you are knocking at the door one floor up. You are Brennan's so-called partner. Agent Booth. Now don't look so surprised, you think nobody notices how often you come to see her?" She giggled. "Partner." Another giggle. "So... assuming you did not just mix up the floor numbers... how can I help you?"

Booth quickly recovered from the shock that everybody at this house was assuming that he and Brennan had an affair. 'Well, who gives a shit, I have to find her.'

"Last night somebody broke into Dr. Brennan's apartment..."

The green eyes widened in shock. "Really? Oh, that's what all the fuss was about? All those people this morning? Oh, shoot... but...FBI? You do not deal with a normal break-in, don't you... Did ... something happen to Dr. Brennan?"

"She is missing. I have a few question, If you have time..." Booth answered, unsuccessfully trying to mask the pain behind the words.

"Oh, SHIT! I mean sorry... well, come in." She guided him to her kitchen, motioned for him to sit down at the table and poured both of them a glass of water. "Missing ... as in kidnapped?"

Booth nodded. "Yes. We know she has been kidnapped. Unfortunately we do not know what time it happened. Maybe you could help us, did you notice something? Heard something maybe?"

The young woman still looked utterly shocked. "I met her on the stairs when she came home last evening. Told her about power outage we had yesterday morning..."

"Power outage? When?" Booth asked.

"At about 9 or so. She had already left, as usual. It was only for a few minutes... It was only this building they figured it was a problem with a fuse or something. An electrician came a few hours later and checked out the whole building and replaced a fuse or something. I don't know about that stuff, you would have to ask the caretaker, Mr. Pearse downstairs."

"Okay, I will do that, thank you. Anything else you recall?" Booth asked.

"Well... yeah yesterday evening I heard some shouting or so... but... I figured it was the old crone watching TV at maximum volume again... I... Oh God. What if I heard her scream and... Oh shit, I should have checked on it, but I just thought... Oh God damn it. You think it was that sick bastard? That Collector? The newspapers are full with him..."

Booth sighed. "I am sorry, Miss Nichols, but I can't answer that question... Do you recall at what time you heard the screams?"

She miserably shook her head. "Sorry, I have no idea... After 10 in the evening, for sure, but what time exactly? Sorry, I don't know..."

Booth sighed again. "Well, thank you for your help, Ms. Nichols. Here is my card, please call me if you remember anything else."

She nodded, then briefly squeezed his hand, he looked at her, clearly surprised. "I am sorry, Agent Booth... this must be very hard for you. I hope you can find her soon." Her words sounded genuinely sympathetic and the concern in her eyes made him swallow hard.  
"Yeah" he croaked, then cleared his throat to steady his voice. "Thank you, Miss Nichols."

When she closed the door he leaned against the wall. He was feeling totally worn out after only three interrogations, and there were still some neighbours left. At least he had found out something interesting. A power failure, the very day Brennan had been kidnapped. Coincidence? Booth did not believe in coincidences.

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please let me know, what you think!!!

as already mentioned above, this was the last chapter I had already written down... so the next update may take a while... I'd like to thank you in advance for being patient ;) I just started another fic, that will be up here soon too... It's incredible, my muse is always forcing me to start something new... 4 ongoing fics now... I know it's crazy...


	8. Chapter 8

Okay, here we go, the next chapter is ready!!! All Booth's pov!

I thank all the reviewers, you really keep me going! I try to answer every review, but this week-end has been crazy and in case I forgot anybody, I am sorry!

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Chapter 8:

Booth was exhausted. Talking to all of Brennan's neighbours that had been available had cost him a lot of energy. Everybody in the house assumed he and Bones were having an affair... and he had decided not to waste time with denying it... But it was even harder to interview these people, when he got constantly reminded by them that Temperance Brennan was not just another victim, but HIS Bones. His partner, his friend... maybe even more, though he had no time to explore this thought right now.

He was on his way back to the Jeffersonian and when he stopped at a traffic light he glanced at the seat beside him... The emptiness made his chest tighten for a moment. Normally, his beautiful and smart, but sometimes also annoying, partner would be sitting there. He would do anything to be able to argue with her right now. That would mean she was alive and safe.

Instead of her, there was just a file, bearing her name. But he was able to deal with that, as long as her file, bore the title 'Missing' ... not 'Deceased'.

He was going to find her - alive and hopefully well - and he was going to make sure she never got kidnapped again... and if he had to handcuff her to himself. His eyebrow rose slightly ... the ingredients Bones, handcuffs and himself... added up to a very vivid image.

'Idiot!' he told himself 'She's missing and you are thinking of things like that' He shook his head to banish the image and thought back to his conversation with the caretaker, Mr. Pearse.

Pearse had told him something very interesting. The power outage had lasted for about 10 minutes... and only five minutes later an electrician had shown up. Said electrician had told Mr. Pearse that a woman - he had claimed to have forgotten the name - had called his company and informed them about a power outage. Pearse had been mildly surprised, because normally he was the one to take care of things like that, but since the electrician was there already, he was not going to send him away again, was he? The electrician had introduced himself as Mr. Smith – Booth had to snort again, when he recalled how Pearse had told him that... Mr. SMITH, SERIOUSLY!!! – and had demanded to inspect the switch control boxes in every apartment to find the reason for the power failure.

Oh, and Mr. Smith had been wearing a full beard and a baseball cap... how convenient! Mr. Pearse's description of the mysterious Mr. Smith was not worth the paper Booth had written on... it simply could be any guy between 30 and 45 with average height and brown eyes and brown hair. Not exactly the kind of information that would help narrowing down the search to a group of suspects. And Pearse was not one of the witnesses you'd call reliable...

So maybe the eyes may have been blue, Booth thought sarcastically. It did not matter anyway... if the Collector had wanted to disguise himself properly, he might have used coloured lenses. For all Booth knew, his eyes could have any colour... not that knowing his eye colour would help him at all. It was frustrating to think about it.

Booth shook his head. Good God, Pearse had to be the most naiv man he had ever met. He had taken Mr. SMITH to every apartment, using his set of keys. Of course without checking with the company, Smith claimed to work for, before giving a stranger a tour through the house. Then Booth had asked Pearse, if he had left Mr. Smith alone in one of the apartments, but Pearse had denied, obviously insulted.

Booth still did not buy it. Who was watching over an electrician for more than two hours non-stop? Surely Mr. Smith had developed a sudden feeling of thirst in Brennan's apartment... or something similar, just to get red of Pearse for a few minutes. Booth had to guess how Mr. Smith had managed to get himself a key to Brennan's apartment... all three keys to her apartment were still there: Brennan's, Booth's and Pearse's. He assumed that Smith had brought a molding kit for the key.

Because of this suspicion Booth had confiscated Pearse's key. Hodgins would have to search for residues of molding compound or fingerprints. But in case Mr. SMITH had used foil to cover the molding compound before pressing the key into it – most likely -, there would be nothing to find. The fingerprints were just a faint hope too... Booth was pretty sure, he had been wearing gloves. He sighed. The Collector had been there... walking innocently through the house. Somehow he had pulled off that trick with the power failure.

Booth had asked around in the building after his talk with Mr. Pearse again... nobody had called an electrician... not a big surprise. Booth had already known it had all been part of the plan to get Brennan.

And it had been a flawless plan: The cameras had stopped to work during the power failure and nobody had even noticed. He had helped himself to a key to Brennan's apartment. Booth wondered if there had been similar ways into the other apartment buildings... he would have to check if there had been other power outages, plumbing problems or whatever the son of a bitch used to get into the buildings...

Usually, the Collector left no traces... but this time one thing had not worked as planned: Bones had fought back. She had grabbed a kitchen knife and had hurt the bastard. But he had hurt her too... and bad enough to leave an impressive puddle of blood on her kitchen floor. In his head scenarios, how the fight could have taken place, were already forming, and his chest tightened again. The pictures were too vivid... too colourful. It was all too personal.

He swallowed hard... he had to try to keep a distance, try to fight down the urge to freak out on somebody ... He had to try to keep his focus.

God, he had to find her. Or this case would shatter him to pieces. And he was pretty sure, he could not be mended ... not this time.

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reviews make me very happy!!!! 


	9. Chapter 9

Hello again everybody. Happy New Year!

The past weeks were pretty busy and this fanfiction had to wait for an update pretty long... my apologies. Thanks for your reviews, people!!! Okay, here we go, this chapter is Brennan's point of view.

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Chapter 9:

Brennan woke when she heard a noise. It was caused by something metallic. She blinked and forced her eyes open. Her back and her head hurt... The first was explained by her position: she had fallen asleep at the table, her head resting on the wood. The second had to be caused by the drug her kidnapper had used. The Collector. So, it had not just been a nightmare.

She swallowed hard and remembered the noise that had caused her to wake up. Metallic. The door. She saw that the small slit at eye level was opened and that light shone through it. Somebody was standing there, watching her. It had to be him. She swallowed again.

"Dr. Brennan. Have you enjoyed your stay so far?" The voice, the deep, full timbre of a man, dripped of sarcasm. She closed her eyes briefly and decided not to answer, fighting down the urge to yell at him. She depended on him now... infuriating him would not expand her lifespan.

"Not very talkative, are we? So, Dr. Brennan, I see you already used all your water... you must be thirsty..."

He was mocking her with his all too gentleman-like words, but she did not respond. She was indeed thirsty, but she was not going to beg for water. He was not going to break her will.

"Listen, Dr. Brennan... this room is the... welcome suite. Every new collectible woke up in this room... it's not overflowing with luxury as you may have noticed. You might want to get an upgrade, but more comfort requires obedience, my dear Dr. Brennan... You understand?" His voice filled the room.

She nodded slowly, sitting on the edge of the chair.

"Good. How nice to see we understand each other. First of all, I am going to call you doc from now... it's much shorter than Doctor Brennan or Temperance... Okay, doc?" She nodded again, this time more firmly.

She did not mind that he gave her a nickname... to be honest, she was glad he was not calling her by her given name. Only few people did that and she did not want to get her name tainted by that bastard using it.

"Good, Doc. You are going to call me master. Understood?" The voice asked, still smooth and filled with false gentleness.

She forced herself to nod again.

"You are going to answer properly, with a 'Yes, master!' " His voice had lost some of the velvet gentleness and she only hesitated for a second before she steadily repeated. "Yes, master."

The words left an ashen taste on her tongue and the sound of them was disgusting... but she had to play the game, act as if she was submissive... she had to give Booth and her team time to find her. 'You are playing a role... just acting... this is not you.' She told herself over and over again, clenching her fists.

"Good." The Collector's voice was all gentle again. "Now, Doc, I can move you to a room with a bed and a toilet... if you are a good girl and tell me all about how much you know about me... how much the FBI has found out already about The Collector."

She shook her head. She was not ready to admit to him, how little information they had... and not ready to admit to herself how desperate and hopeless her situation really was. Not yet.

"No? Well, then you better get accustomed to this room, Doc." The Collector spat out. "I am going to ask you again tomorrow, maybe you changed your mind until then."

She heard how he furiously slammed the slit shut. A moment later the bigger opening in the door was unlocked and a gloved hand tossed another bottle of water into her cell. It rolled a few feet towards her until it stopped. Her eyes widened in surprise... he provided her with water, even though she had not obeyed him?

Then she looked around in her room and understood. He was going to give her enough water... so that in a few hours she was going to have to pee... Something she would not do, because she would have to use a corner of her cell... which was...pretty disgusting. He was going to wait until the promise of a room with a toilet and a bed would sound compelling enough to her to tell him all she knew.

The dry feeling in her mouth remembered her, that she was thirsty because of the drug he had given her. She had no choice... she had to drink something... Slowly she rose and cursed when she felt a sudden pain radiating from her thigh, reminding her of her injury. Hesitantly she opened the bottle and took a big gulp of water. What was she going to do now? Sooner or later she would have to tell him about the investigations... he would torture her to get her to talk. She shuddered, when she recalled the broken bones and injuries of the women they had already found.

She had no illusions about her resistance... she knew that at some point of pain or torture everybody started to talk. So, she decided, that she would start to tell him about where they had found the bodies and when... things he would know already from the newspapers... the state of decomposition... she would drag out the reports on her work as long as possible... the names of the missing women...maybe she could pass a few days like that without getting hurt by him. Maybe not. It was as good a chance as any.

She tried to recall as many details as possible on the first few bodies... where they had found them, what kind of wounds they had had.

She was in the middle of recalling the details on the second scene, when she heard muffled screams again. Brennan briefly closed her eyes and tried to ignore the screams as good as possible. After all, she could not help the poor woman. She could not even help herself.

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Okay, please let me know, what you think... thanks a lot!


	10. Chapter 10

OOOOOkay, people, here we go, the next chapter is ready.

Thanks for the reviews!!! I know, this is kind of a dark and depressing fanfic so far, but well... what can I say, I am mean ;)

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Chapter 10:

„Angela?" Hodgins approached her office calling his fiancée's name. It was deserted... the artist obviously was somewhere else. He yawned. It was past midnight, but they were still all at the lab, working on the few traces they had... nobody wanted to admit, that – if they would not get new evidence soon – the chances for finding Dr. Brennan were getting worse and worse.

When he turned around, he heard muffled sobs from somewhere... and soon he knew they were coming from Brennan's office. Slowly he approached the dark room and opened the door, which had been ajar. Light from the lab poured into the room and he could see the outline from a figure at Brennan's desk.

"Angela?" He whispered, cautiously.

"Jack." He heard her choke out his name between sobs and he rushed towards her. "Baby, what are you doing here, all alone?" He murmured and gathered her in a gentle embrace.

"Jack... Bren... we don't know anything... what if..." Another crying fit shook her body and Hodgins held her even tighter.

"Angela... Shhhh... We will find her. We will, okay? She's smart and she is strong, she is going to make it until we find her. We are not giving up..." He whispered soothingly.

"But she is hurt, Jack. And ... he is... what he is doing to those women... it's..." Angela's voice trailed away.

"I know. But we will find her. Come on, baby, you did not give up when we were buried by the Gravedigger, you will not give up now, okay?" Jack gently stroked her hair.

"That was Booth." She whispered. Jack frowned. "What?"

"Booth... he did not give up, he... kept us going." Angela explained, her voice a little calmer now.

"Oh... Okay... Then look at him, Angie. He is not going to rest until he has her back. We can do that, too." He pointed outside, where Booth was pacing, talking to somebody on the phone.

"You're right, Jack... I am sorry... It's just..." Angela was at a loss for words. She had been strong all day... but the fear for Brennan had overcome her suddenly, the fear clawing at her.

"It's okay. Everybody has to be weak sometimes... but you don't need to be alone. You helped me, when I could not sleep, when I had nightmares from being buried alive... I'll do the same for you, Angela... you just have to come to me, okay? No sitting alone in the dark." Jack murmured and kissed her softly.

"Thank you." Angela whispered back. "Can we stay her for a little while?"

Hodgins took her gently in his and answered. "As long as you want."

* * *

_Outside Brennan's office..._

"I do not care, how late it is!" Boot bellowed in his phone. "I am pretty sure The Collector does not care how late it is, too... And he has my partner! My partner, got that? And at least four other women... So, I need those tapes, okay?"

He listened for a view moments, then his voice got a bit calmer. "Yeah... Look, I'll come over to get the tapes... you just have to prepare them, okay? Yeah... thank you for your co-operation..."

He hung up and dialled another number. "Yeah, Sanchez, it's Booth. Could you check for more buildings with cameras on the outside close to the buildings where the women got kidnapped? ... No, we have somebody here to deal with the videos, we just need to know if we can get more... I know, I know... Well, wake them up, I don't care... Thanks, man. Bye." He hung up and sighed, then searched the platform with his eyes.

"Angela." He yelled.

"We're here." Hodgins' voice answered instead and the sound lead Booth to Brennan's office.

"Whatcha doing here?" Booth asked into the dark room.

"I... needed to be ... here.." Angela's voice was still thick with tears and Booth understood, what had happened. He sighed and decided not to mention it.

"Listen... I'll get tapes from the hotel which is in the same street as Bones' apartment. They have a camera on the outside, recording the entrance and the street in the background... We know when the power outage was, maybe we'll be able to get at least a picture of the asshole's car. A buddy of mine at the FBI is checking for other hotels, banks or whatever near the buildings where the other women disappeared. I need you to check the videos, Angela... Can you do that?" Booth quickly explained.

"Sure..." Angela cleared her throat and her voice sounded steadier, when she continued. "What am I looking for?"

"We know that there's been a plumbing problem at Anna DiMartino's house the day before she disappeared ... Plumber came, saying somebody had phoned him - blah-blah... nearly the same as at Brennan's. At Sandra Miller's house there was problem with the phone two days before she got kidnapped... The FBI is still searching for other similar things, but as it is night, people are not really co-operative...Anyway, we'll have to search for suspicious people or cars on the tapes around the time of these "problems" and the time the kidnappings took place..." He was air-quoting the word problems.

"I'll be back in ten with the videos from the hotel... Get your stuff prepared, okay?" He whirled around and hurried out of the lab.

Hodgins looked at his fiancée, his eyes now used to the dark, and said with audible doubt in his voice "In ten? It's a ten minutes drive TO Dr. Brennan's apartment."

"He'll use his siren. And it's not like he's going to get a ticket for speeding." Angela murmured absently.

A few moments later, they were just leaving Brennan's office, they heard the faint sound of a siren. Angela managed a half-hearted grin. "Told ya."

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Well, please let me know, what you think... Did you like the Angela/Hodgins comfort scene... I thought it might be nice for Hodgins to return the comfort Angela offered him during the Gravedigger-episode...

reviews make me VERY happy


	11. Chapter 11

Hello again! Thank you for the reviews!!! Here we go, the next chapter is ready... Sorry if it takes a bit longer for me to update, but I have 4 ongoing fics right now...

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Chapter 11:

Temperance Brennan shuddered. It was getting cold…. She had the strange feeling the cold crept directly through the concrete floor into her body. Like some kind of a slimy creature, like a snail. She knew that was not possible, of course, but still it felt like that.

'Maybe it's getting colder now, because it's night...' she thought. 'Or maybe it's only me... maybe it only feels colder because I don't move enough.'

She had wrapped herself into the thin blanket, but it had not provided enough warmth for her to feel comfortable. If you could feel comfortable, while being kidnapped by a sadistic killer, she thought sarcastically.

She was wearing clothes she often put on in the evening, when she was not ready to go to bed, but wanted casualty: loose pants and a thin, tight-fitting sweat-shirt. Her feet were covered with thick socks and slippers. No wonder, she did not really feel warm... the clothes were not made for things like this.

And it did not help, that her pants were torn on one side, where she had found the knife wound on her thigh. She saw that blood had oozed through her 'make-do' bandage.

She rose, the blanket still tightly wrapped around her shoulders and started to pace to get the blood circulation going again. Brennan hissed, when waves of pain made her stomach clench... the pain in her thigh seemed to get worse than better. She clenched her teeth, trying to fight down the urge to throw up... cold sweat started to cover her forehead and she knew, that her current situation, staying in a cold wet cell with no food, would not support the healing of the wound.

And that very moment she realised, that maybe, she was going to die because of an infectious wound before The Collector could starve or torture her to death.

The thought was strangely comforting.

* * *

They were taking shifts at watching the tapes. After a short debate they had agreed on that solution. After all, they all were tired and even in the middle of this – very personal – investigation the body demanded sleep at some point. Cam had buried herself in the pathology, going over her reports once again, desperately trying to find new details, something she might have overlooked.

Angela and Hodgins had volunteered for the first three-hour shift... as well as Booth and Zach. But Angela convinced them, that she needed to modify the program, define new parameters before they could start. So, Hodgins and her had taken over the first three hours. As per their agreement, she then went to Brennan's office, were Booth was asleep on her couch to wake him.

When she opened the door, she heard a sound – muttered words. "Booth?" She whispered into the dark. Again there were muttered words and Angela finally was able to make out some of them. "No. Don't... Bones... No...Oh, God, NO!" The sound of these words and the pain in his voice made her shiver. Angela hurried towards the couch and touched the FBI agent's shoulder. "Booth! Wake up! You're having a nightmare!"

He woke with a gasp and a tight feeling in his chest. "Angela?" He asked, his voice hoarse, when he recognised the woman bent over him.

"I came to wake you... It's your turn now. You... you were having a nightmare when I came in..." The artist said quietly.

Booth let out a humourless laugh. "My life turned into a nightmare, Angela." He sighed. "Uhm ... thank you for waking me. I'll be there in a few minutes... I just...need..."

"It's okay. I'll wake Zach and then we will be at my office. I need to explain the comparison-program to you." She murmured and briefly touched his arm, an understanding gesture between friends.

"Yeah.. okay..." Booth gave back and watched Angela leave Brennan's office. The dim light from outside oozed eerily through the blinds and he briefly closed his eyes.

The tight feeling in his chest slowly subsided, but the memory of the nightmare was still there, gnawing at him. He had seen her... his Bones, with bruises on her delicate pale skin and then... then... a black, faceless figure had... God, he did not even want to think about it. He tried to banish the memory of the nightmare, tried to tell himself that it had not happened, that she could still be alright. Absently he ran the inside of his hand over his eyes, as if trying to rub the images out of his eyes. And his fingers touched something wet.

Tears... he identified it after a moment. God, he had been crying in his sleep. He swallowed hard.

After a moment he walked over to Brennan's desk, knowing she would keep a bottle of water in the third drawer. He opened the bottle of water and gulped half of it's content down. Then he pulled out a handkerchief and moistened it with water. He wiped his face with the damp handkerchief, hoping to be able to remove all traces of his tears.

If his eyes looked red, well that was perfectly normal... after all he was worried and had not had enough sleep. But he could not afford to be weak... he needed to be strong, needed to give the squints confidence. He needed to be the one they could turn to for support, not a picture of misery.

But that very moment he realised something else: He needed Bones. More than he had ever thought possible.

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okay, please, please, please let me know what you think!!! thanks a lot!!!


	12. Chapter 12

Hello sweeties! Thank you so much for your reviews!

Here we go, the next chapter is ready!!!!

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Chapter 12:

When Booth entered Angela's office, a tired-looking Zach was already sitting in front of the computer, listening to Angela's explanations. "... when you see a suspicious person, you make a mark, like that,... and the program will check everybody on the following tapes for the same height and posture... You can also mark cars..."

Zach nodded, stifling a yawn. "You want to know how it works too, Booth?" Angela asked the FBI agent, when he joined them. Booth shook his head. "As long as it works, I don't have to know the details. Explain it to genius junior and we will be fine."

"All done. Okay... so I'll be gone then. We're going to be at Bren's office. Wake us in three hours or if you find something. Got that?" Angela said, while strolling towards the door.

"Sure." Booth mumbled and Zach only nodded, already staring at the screen in deep concentration. Booth glanced at the video and his eyes widened in shock, when he saw how many people were coming in and out of the hotel. "What the hell? Is this a god damn train station, or what?"

Zach did not avert his eyes from the screen, but his eyebrows shot up in confusion. "Why would you say that? Obviously, this is a hotel."

"Jeez, I knew that. I was there to get the tapes. But why are there so many people, can you tell me that, you genius?" Booth muttered.

"It's a hotel and restaurant. Apparently there was some kind of party." Zach analysed.

"Great, just great." Booth sighed and concentrated on the video.

* * *

Temperance Brennan clenched her teeth while she undressed the wound on her thigh. It did not ooze much blood anymore, but the rims of the long gash were an angry red and pain throbbed through her. If her kidnapper would not provide her with something clean to put on her wound - unlikely – the probability of an infection was increasing. Drastically, she thought, while staring at the wound.

She did not so much fear the pain the infection would bring along.

There would be pain anyway... she was in the hands of a sociopath who had raped and tortured many women. Pain was the only thing that she could be sure of in her near future.

What she feared, was the fever, the weakness and the delirious state she would end up in. She was going to be more vulnerable than ever before in her life... She would lose her ability to concentrate, to analyse... and that was all she had left now. Or was it?

She closed her eyes and recalled what Jack Hodgins had told her, when they had been buried alive by the Gravedigger. He had told her, that she had faith in Booth. She had given back, that faith was something irrational. But in this situation, on the verge of losing her confidence in the stability of her own mind, she suddenly realised, that there would still be one thing left.

"I have faith in Booth." She whispered and although the surrounding temperature had not changed, she instantly felt warmer. She wrapped herself even tighter into the blanket, trying to preserve the warmth for as long as possible. And thinking of how Booth had pulled her out of the sand months ago, her tired mind drifted to sleep.

* * *

Zach's eyes were dry, his back hurt and he was pretty sure, that after two hours of constant staring at the screen, the FBI agent next to him was not feeling any better.

"Stop, Zach!" Booth suddenly exclaimed. "Go back to that car... right, can you freeze it there?"

Booth stared at the screen. A white van... and there was something written at the side. "Can you... zoom, too?" He asked.

Zach did not bother to reply, but simply zoomed into the picture until they could read the words "Wiring" and "Electrical devices".

"This has to be our mysterious Mr. Smith." Booth remarked. He looked at the small numbers in the corner of the screen. "Ten to nine in the morning... According to Ms. Nichols and Mr. Pearse the power outage happened at about nine and lasted for ten or fifteen minutes. And only fifteen minutes later Mr. Smith was already there... But he drove by the hotel at ten to nine... Ten minutes time for him to get into the building and pull off that trick..." Booth mused. "Do your thing... mark the car, Zach... Maybe he uses the same car every time..."

"But the writing..." Zach started, then he stopped. "Adhesive foil."

"Yeah, stickers, what else? It's easy... and nobody notices white vans with company logos on them... It's as if they were not there... The program just compares the type of car, right? Not the colour or the writing on it?" Booth asked, wide awake now.

"I'll check the search parameters." Zach mumbled and was busily typing for some moments. "Done."

"Good." Booth said. "At least it's something... Maybe he is on the other tapes too... and maybe we'll be able to see the plates on one of them."

Hope rose in him, only a hint of it, but enough to make him feel a little better.

* * *

Please let me know if you like it! Reviews make me very, very happy! 


	13. Chapter 13

Hello sweeties! Thank you so much for your reviews! Here we go, the next chapter is ready!!!!

* * *

Chapter 13:

"Angela? Jack?" Zach carefully knocked and whispered their names into the dark office.

"Mhmmmm?" A yawn and a mumbled protest could be heard, then Angela's voice: "What is it Zach?"

"We found something." Zach announced and left them. His words made Angela jump to her feet immediately, all fatigue forgotten.

* * *

"Bones!" She heard him call her name... no, her nick-name. Nonetheless, she was relieved to hear his voice. Only Booth called her Bones. And Booth meant safety, Booth meant rescue. But where was he? She looked around, searching... searching for the door. The door behind which Booth would be waiting for her.

There was no door. Her heart started to race and she panted heavily. Naked, concrete walls on every side. She... she was buried? No, she had been kidnapped and there had been a metal door... and a table in her room. She looked around again, frantically searching for a way out of her dimly lit cell.

But there was nothing... no window, no door, nothing. Nothing? No light bulb. This could not be right... there was light in the cell... she could see, but there was no light bulb.

It had to be a dream.

The very moment she realised it, she woke with a gasp. She blinked against the light. The light of the single light bulb dangling from the cold concrete ceiling. Swallowing hard she looked around in her cell. She was relieved to find it had a door – albeit closed one – and the table and the chair were still there. It had been a dream... But it had seemed so real... she had been convinced she had heard Booth's voice.

What if she really had heard his voice?

The thought made her jump to her feet... she nearly fell, when she put weight on her injured foot, but she managed to remain upright. She staggered towards the door, still panting heavily.

When she reached the door, her fingertips brushing the cold metal, she nearly collapsed against it. She pressed her face against it, listening. Nothing. A dry sob escaped her throat. It had been a dream.

She sat down, her back sliding down against the cold metal of the door behind her. She bit her bottom lip when another sharp pain seared through her. Brennan felt dizzy, and her throat was dry... her head seemed to be near to an explosion. When she brought her fingertips against her forehead, she felt it was burning hot.

She was starting to get feverish... No wonder, her mind analysed. She had felt a little off the last few days, the stress had worn her out and she had suspected she was about to catch a cold.

Now she was sitting in a cold cell since who knows how long... and had a wound on her thigh. Not exactly what the doctor recommended.

Her gaze wandered to the bottle of water her kidnapper had thrown in some time earlier.

She crawled towards the it, biting back a gasp, when she felt the pain in her thigh again. She snatched the bottle and opened it, then greedily drank down half it's content.

Then she leant against the wall and closed her eyes, trying to regain some strength... A few moments later she heard a sound from the other side of the door and the timbre of a male voice.

He was coming.

* * *

"What?" Angela hurried towards Booth, who was sitting at her computer. "What did you find?"

"We have him on two of the tapes." Booth answered, smiling wryly.

* * *

uh-oh. cliffie!!! Do they know who the bad boy is?

Please let me know what you think... reviews would be awesome!


	14. Chapter 14

Hello again!!! First of all, thank you all so much for reading. And special thanks to all those nice people who even review... you rock!

* * *

Chapter 14: 

„Look" Booth gestured towards the screen. "The same car... but we never see the plates. And here he is... we have him twice on the tape of the hotel near Bones' apartment and once on the tape of the bank. The second time a lorry was in the way..."

Zach and Booth showed them the tapes. They saw a man, his face well hidden with a beard and sunglasses, wearing a cap. But body posture, the way he was moving... it told them he had to be the same man. That was why the software had found him.

Angela nodded. "Okay... but we never see his face... we know he drives a white van, we know height and weight... shoe-size, but that's it." She sighed.

"I know." Booth answered, his voice equally hopeless and worn out as Angela's.

That moment they heard Cam calling. "Guys, come over here... I found something."

She sounded excited.

* * *

Brennan swallowed hard. He was coming to her cell again... she had no idea how long she had been asleep. He had told her, he was coming back "tomorrow"... was it tomorrow already?

She had to assume it...and if the urge she felt – nameley to pee – was a hint, she would say: yes, she definitely had slept for some hours.

This time she would obey... she would tell him a lot of things about where and when they had found the remains, hoping to keep him busy. Busy enough to pass time until Booth would be able to find her... busy enough, so he could not hurt the other women. Women who had people waiting for them at home, people who loved them. Not like her.

When the small slit in the door opened, she was looking his way, meeting his eyes.

"Did you change your mind, doc?" He asked, his voice mockingly gentle.

She nodded weakly. "I... I will tell you all I know."

"Good... good... but not like this... no not like this... I want to see you better, when you tell me about what you know. Go to the chair and sit down, doc." He ordered.

Slowly, she rose, hissing when the movement caused her wound to pulse and hurt again. She heard him chuckle. "All your own fault, Doc... You tried to stab me with your kitchen knife... you needed punishment."

Brennan briefly closed her eyes and recalled the few memories she had been able to come up with: A knife, in her hand, the blade covered in blood... But if the knife had been in her hands and the blade bloodied already... it meant she had hurt him too. A small satisfaction, but a satisfaction nonetheless.

"Come on, doc, move faster." He urged her, his voice sounding impatient.

She staggered towards the table and carefully lowered herself on the chair. Only a few steps, but she felt exhausted.

"Now put your hands behind your back, so that I can see them... I'll come in now, doc, and don't try to do something stupid... I have a gun and I don't care if you live or not, got that.?" His voice had lost all gentleness and she hastily nodded.

"I did not hear you!" He yelled.

"Yes, I understood... master." She choked out the disgustingly submissive words and closed her eyes. He was coming into her cell... and she was weak. She could only hope, that her weakened condition would let her lose consciousness sooner, in case he was going to torture her. But on the other hand, he wanted her to tell him about the investigation... so maybe he would not be too cruel, he wanted her able to talk.

She heard the metallic sound of a key turning in a lock and shuddered. She did not even try to hide it... after all he wanted her to be frightened and submissive.

When she heard his steps coming closer, her pulse quickened and cold sweat started to cover her forehead. When he finally stood behind her, she felt how his gloved hands started placed something cold over her wrists. The metallic sound told her that he was handcuffing her.

"Not so brave anymore, doc?" She could feel his warm breath on her neck as he whispered the words into her ear, the disgusting imitation of a lover whispering words of love into his sweetheart's ear. "Such a delicate skin" he ran his tongue over the skin of her neck and she trembled harder, trying to fight down the urge to vomit.

"Now talk, doc... tell me what you and your FBI partner found out." He ran a finger up her back and she shivered again, unable to talk.

He grabbed her hair and yanked her head back in a brutal way. "Did I give you the impression I was a patient man? Talk!" He bellowed.

And she did.

* * *

I know it was a bit short, but I am pretty busy these days... I hope you understand. 

Please let me know what you think!!!


	15. Chapter 15

Hello sweeties! Thank you so much for your reviews! I know my chapters are pretty short , but I am so busy now... but I can't leave you waiting forever, so that's why I keep them a bit shorter... Here we go, the next chapter is ready!!!!

* * *

Chapter 15:

Booth and the others had gathered around Cam, who was clutching a sheet of paper.

"What?" Booth finally asked. "What did you find, Camille?"

"His DNA." She said, smiling wryly at them.

"How?" Zach asked interested. "Who is it?" Booth snapped at the same time.

Cam gave him an apologetic look. "He's not listed anywhere, Booth... I am sorry.

But at least we do have the DNA now. I was able to isolate his DNA from the blood that still clung to the knife. It took me some time, but I managed to get his DNA from it. I found something else, too... Whoever the Collector is, he has access to prescripted medication...

It's not easy to detect, but I found traces of gamma-Hydroxybutyric acid in Sarah MacQuade's liver. A pretty potent sedative. It's also known as 'date rape drug'.

The standard tests do not detect it. Unfortunately the other bodies are too decomposed for us to give us tissue to examine... but I would say he used the drug on the other victims too."

They all swallowed hard at the use of the word victim.

"How is it used? I mean..." Booth started to ask, but Cam cut him off. "Injection or consummation. It works both ways... and fast."

Booth nodded. "So, who has access to that ... what's it called?"

"Gamma-Hydroxybutyric acid – GHB for short... Usually, not even doctors or apothecaries have easy access to it. Illegal imports, I would say." Cam explained. She sighed. "What did you find out?"

Angela quickly reported what they had found on the tapes. Cam looked from one to the other and her concerned gaze fixed on Booth. "That's not much."

"We will find more." Booth pressed through gritted teeth. No way he was giving up now. "We will find HER!"

* * *

Her throat was dry. She had been talking about her findings, her work with the remains for hours... or so it seemed.

The Collector seemed to be pleased with what she told him, he was genuinely interested in every detail of her work and even asked questions once or twice. Questions that indicated that he knew something about the human body.

So maybe he was a physician, she mused. Not that the knowledge would do her any good in her recent situation.

She took her time to explain every little step in her findings... he seemed to take it as a compliment how much time she had spent with his victims. Or collectibles as he called them. As if I have done that to please him, she thought disgusted.

She cleared her throat, giving the bottle of water a few feet away a longing look.

The Collector touched her shoulder and she shivered. "Don't stop, Doc... what did you find when you looked at her, tell me."

Brennan swallowed hard and started to explain the procedure of recreating a face from a skull... so that they could try to get an identification.

Suddenly she felt how the man who was standing behind her came closer, pressing his body against her back. A sick feeling rose in her, but she kept talking, ignoring it. Ignoring the warmth radiating from his body... ignoring that his breathing seemed to sound a little laboured. When his hands closed around her neck, she stopped her report with a gasp.

"That's what I did to her, doc. I strangled her. But first, I had a lot of fun with her. Oh, she screamed... but she lasted pretty long... I'd love to take my time with you now, Doc... but I have to go. Don't be sad, I'll have more time for you tomorrow." He pressed his body near to her and she could tell just how much he wanted to stay.

Her throat burned with the effort of fighting down tears and the urge to vomit.

"I even keep the promise I made... you'll get a room with bed and toilet, my dear Doc... but only because I don't want you to piss in a corner in here. Now, sleep, Doc." He said.

She wondered for a moment if he had the illusion his voice was going to send her to sleep, as irrational as it might be, but then she felt the sharp sting of a syringe making contact with her skin. And soon her vision blurred and the world went dark.

* * *

Okay, what do you think??? Reviews make me happy! 


	16. Chapter 16

Hello sweeties! Thank you so much for sticking with this story and for your reviews!!! It means a lot!

* * *

Chapter 16:

A few hours later – it was early morning - Booth was sitting in his office, going through all the interrogation protocols of the conversations he had had with Bones' and the other kidnapped women's neighbours. There simply HAD to be something... just something.

A knock on the door startled him and he looked up in his boss' eyes.

"Booth. You found out anything last night?" Deputy Director Cullen asked him. Booth sighed, reporting that they had indeed found a DNA, but nothing to compare it with... and that they had the sick bastard on tape, but he had disguised himself pretty well.

Cullen nodded slowly, watching Booth intensely while he made his short report. "Booth... I understand this is very personal, but you look like hell. Go and try to sleep." Cullen said, his voice more gentle and understanding than Booth had ever thought possible.

He could only shake his head in response and after a moment he said in a barely audible voice: "I can't. I slept a few hours, but it's... I know what he did to these women, Sir. If I close my eyes I see..." He shook his head again, as if trying to get the image out of his head.

Cullen stared at him for some time, then nodded again. "Okay. I understand... if you need something, don't hesitate to contact me. Anytime, Booth."

Booth gave him a grateful look. "Thank you, Sir."

"And Booth... I really hope you will be able to find her soon." Cullen added, before leaving Booth's office, shooting the younger man another worried glance.

"Me too." Booth whispered, the words not more than a croak, really.

Then he focused on the papers in front of him again.

* * *

"Bones." She heard his voice again... repeating her name over and over again. But she was in the cell without a door again, her fingernails clawing at the concrete, desperately searching for a way out.

The moment she realised it was a dream, she woke with a start. She did not know how long she had been asleep this time, she only knew the same dream had repeated itself over and over again and every time it took her longer to understand it was not real, longer to wake up.

A single tear slid down her cheek, when she recalled how the dream always started with Booth calling her name and how fake relief filled her, relief upon hearing him call her. He, who meant being safe. And then the one moment came, the cruel moment, when she realised there was no way out.

And all hope and comfort was torn away from her again, leaving her shivering, pounding her fists against the concrete walls until she understood it was a dream and she woke up.

Every time it lasted longer and ate away the last core of hope she had stored inside herself.

How could her subconscious be so cruel, always luring her into the illusion he was here, saving her.

Well, because she knew, simply knew, it was what he was trying to do. Brennan was convinced he was frantically searching for her, as she had been searching for him, when he had been missing. But maybe trying would not be enough this time.

She opened her eyes, banishing the images of the dream as she had done several times before this night. Night, she mused, she could not even know if it was night right now. But if the cold was any indicator, it had to be night.

She was cold, so incredibly cold... Her limbs felt numb and as if strangely unattached.

As soon as she moved, she felt the blood rushing back into them again... and with the blood came feeling and with feeling came the throbbing pain in her thigh.

She gasped at the sudden flood of pain, squeezing her eyes shut, trying to fight down the urge to vomit. A few moments later, she was in control again... the pain was still there, but she was able to ignore it enough to get her brain working.

Brennan knew pretty well it was not working as good as it used to... And she knew why. Her body went from feeling cold and lifeless to burning hot too fast, sometimes she shivered for minutes, not able to control her body, then she felt the fever burning through her veins like liquid fire. Her vision blurred sometimes, her head felt as if stuffed with cotton wool or throbbed with a head ache.

Sepsis. She was going to die, the sepsis would cause the fever to go up, her organs would stop working, her body was going to be poisoned until it gave up.

But not yet, not yet. There was still some time left and The Collector had kept his word, she was now in a cell that at least provided her with a mattress and a toilet. A toilet she had used when she had woken the first time in this new environment, woken by the dream.

The pain had nearly let her pass out, when she had staggered to her feet, rising from the bed... but she had made it.

Even if she was going to die a wretched death in here, there was still that much pride left in her, she did not want to die in her own excrements. So she had pushed herself forward, until she had reached the toilet... and the same way back towards the bed a few minutes later.

The mattress reeked of whoever had been lying on it before her. Maybe not only lying here, but suffering, even dying on it. The thought was not repelling enough to reject the little comfort a mattress and a blanket offered her, it only made her sad.

So sad that soon tears threatened to fall, but her gaze had blurred already, before she even was aware of the salty water that had started to fill her eyes. Black spots started to taint her vision and she knew the combination of fever and the drug The Collector had used on her was knocking her out once again. And the dream was going to return.

* * *

Please tell me what you think! 


	17. Chapter 17

Hello sweeties! Thank you so much for reading this story. Sorry it takes longer for me to update now, but as you might have noticed I wrote some one-shots, too...

* * *

Chapter 17:

She woke with a strangled cry, fleeing the horrible images of a nightmare. She opened her eyes slowly and it took her a moment to figure out where she was. In her office. She blinked and then everything rushed back into her head. Brennan, kidnapped, Collector. Angela exhaled slowly.

Her watch told her it was 10:00 in the morning. Quickly Angela rose to her feet and stormed out of her office.

"Why did you let me sleep so long?" She demanded, casting an angry glance at her fiancé who was sitting in front of a computer.

Jack Hodgins turned around to face her, his face tired and pale. "Because you needed it. Cam is asleep too... Zach is going over the tapes again and I am re-examining everything we found close to the bodies. Maybe... there is something I did not see, some hint on where he is hiding."

"But... I ... could have helped." She said, her anger leaving her, when she took in his tired appearance.

"You needed sleep, Angela. You can watch the tapes if you want and get Zach to lie down for a bit, hm?" Hodgins suggested.

She gave him a worried glance. "What about you?" She asked.

He gave her a weak smile. "I am nearly finished. I did not find anything... and ... there is nothing left for me to examine." He let out a humourless laugh. "I can as well go and sleep... would be as useful as doing this."

"Jack... you tried. We are giving our best, right?" Angela closed the distance between them and they embraced. "Yeah." He answered weakly.

"Where's Booth?" Angela asked, only now noticing the FBI agent was nowhere to be seen.

"FBI. He is going through his notes again." Hodgins informed her and yawned.

"You need to sleep, too, Jack." She whispered against his cheek and she felt how he nodded. "I'll be finished soon."

She gave him a quick kiss and forced a smile on her face. "We will find her. I am going to take over from Zach now."

Hodgins nodded, his attention already returning towards the screen.

* * *

Booth closed his eyes briefly, as if to clear his vision. It was nearly lunch time and he was tired, but he was not willing to give up... he had to find something. Something he could work on... He sighed.

He forced his attention back to the file in front of him, reading the protocols for what seemed the thousandth's time... and of course, there was nothing new to be found.

Angrily he slammed the file shut, clenching his teeth. There was nothing, absolutely nothing he could do. But he was not going to give up... that was just not acceptable. God, they even had his DNA, right? He just needed something, something to find out where the bastard was, where he was hiding Bones. 

His thoughts were abruptly interrupted when his phone rang. He did not bother to look at the ID, he just answered it with a tired voice.

But upon hearing what the officer on the other line told him, his eyes widened. "A body? Where? The remains... how old... I mean a skeleton or...?" He hastily asked.

The answer made his blood freeze. "It appears to be a fresh body. And... it's bad... worse than the last one."

'Oh, God' he thought. 'Not her, please not her.'

* * *

Booth was at the scene in record time, although he stopped by at the Jeffersonian to pick up Zach and Cam. He did not say a single word during the whole drive and none of his passengers tried to start a conversation. They had been ready with their equipment after he had informed them via phone that he was going to pick them up to drive to a scene.

A fresh body.

It was all the information they needed... They knew it could be Dr. Brennan... and the knowledge of this made talking impossible anyway.

When they finally arrived at the scene, Booth jumped out of the car, hurrying towards the officers, demanding to see the body. One look at the agent's face let the officer back away, only showing him the way... no way he was going to stop this man.

Booth was panting heavily and cold sweat covered his forehead. He saw feet, dirty bare feet... then the naked body of a woman, but he only saw her backside. His gaze traveled over the bruised body and settled on the head. Auburn hair.

* * *

Uh-oh... cliffie!!! But not for long, I promise, I am already working on the next chapter!

Reviews would be great!!!


	18. Chapter 18

Okay, sorry for the big bad cliffhanger at the end of the last chapter... Here we go, the next chapter is ready...

* * *

Chapter 18:

A lump formed in his throat, and his heart skipped a beat. "No, please, God, no..." He murmured. Auburn hair... He shuddered and felt how tears started to sting his eyes, but he blinked them away, his eyes fixed on the dirty body in front of him.

Something... was wrong.

Her skin... Bones' skin was lighter. The skin of this woman was a shade too dark... and she was shorter. It was not her. The auburn hair had led him to believe the worst.

Booth felt how he suddenly could breath easier. He felt like a bad person to be relieved, that the dead woman in front of him was not her, not his Bones.

He heard a gasp behind him, when Cam and Zach arrived with their equipment. "No!" Cam exclaimed, a strangled sound.

"It's not her." Booth quickly said, looking at the two squints.

"But... the hair..." Cam breathed. Zach only stood there, staring at the dead woman, his eyes wide. Then he blinked and said in a flat voice. "Dr. Brennan is taller."

Booth nodded. Cam sighed in relief. "Okay... I mean not okay, there is still a dead woman... I mean..."

"I know." Booth choked out. "I am glad it's not Bones, but I still hate that bastard for what he did to that woman." He gestured towards the bruises that were visible on the woman's back. He shuddered at the thought that Bones could have faced similar 'treatment' already.

Cam nodded and took in a deep breath. "Zach, pictures. We want to get her to the lab as soon as possible."

Zach moved closer towards the body and started to take pictures and Cam started to examine the body.. A few moments later, she yelled "She is wearing a wig. And here is a note, Seeley... it ... has your name on it."

Booth's eyes widened. "Show me." Cam nodded, bagged it carefully and handed it over to him.

He stared down at the familiar writing and shuddered when he read the words.

"Dear Agent Booth,

so, did my trick with the wig work? Did you think it was your partner, lying there?

Oh, no, I won't kill her that soon... she is quite entertaining, you must know.

She tells me about the collectibles you already found. Very interesting.

She is a formidable woman, it will be a waste to kill her, but that's how it has to be...  
Oh, and she calls me master now, Agent Booth.

Yours sincerely,

The Collector

PS: I nearly forgot: Collectible soon to be replaced"

Booth swallowed hard and briefly closed his eyes, fighting the images that started to fill his mind. "Cam?" he asked, trying to keep his voice composed. "How long is she dead?"

"Only 12 to 14 hours...He did not hide her this time, so she was found quickly." Cam gave back. It was true, the body was lying under a tree in a parc... in plain sight.

"He wanted to make sure we find her. I think, he would not have killed her that soon, he wanted to... deliver this message." Booth choked out, his self-control nearly leaving him.

"What does the note say?" Cam asked. "I didn't read it."

Booth wordlessly handed it over to her. Dr. Saroyan read it and her face paled. She was about to give it back, when something caught her attention. "Wait." She whispered.

"What?" Booth asked her, when she remained silent after that one single word, her eyes fixed on the note in her hand. "Cam?"

"It... could be coincidence..." She murmured.

"What? Tell me, Cam... what is it?" Booth stared at her, trying to decipher the look on her face.

"Marc" She breathed, her face losing the last bit of colour.

"Marc?" Booth echoed, clearly not understanding.

"Marc Roberts. I've been on three dates with him. He...He called me a formidable woman... He said he was thinking about becoming a donator to the Jeffersonian." She explained, her eyes till glued to the note.

"Oh... but..." Booth started, wanting to tell her that just the use of a word on regular base would not be enough. It COULD be coincidence... hell, it most likely was.

"Seeley." Cam looked at him. "He often travels to Europe. He has the right height. He has money, he has time. Oh, GOD!" She choked out and a wave of nausea came over her.

Booth gripped her elbow to support her.

"Let's check him out." He said grimly, already pulling out his mobile phone.

"Seeley, I... I think I was dating a killer." Cam wheezed, her face a mask of horror.

"You can start a self-help group for that with Bones." He tried to joke, but it was only a poor attempt. After all, they still had to find Bones... and in case Marc Roberts was the man they were searching for – and he prayed to God he was – Cam was lucky that she got away.

"Cam." He addressed the shocked woman beside him, while hitting a speed-dial button.

Her eyes – wide open – fixed on him, shock still evident in them.

"We don't know anything yet. Maybe that Roberts has nothing to do with it. You have to examine the body, Cam, do your thing. We need to gather all information we can get." Booth urged her.

Dr. Saroyan blinked and shook her head, as if to get rid of the thoughts. "Right. Sorry." She managed to utter and took a step towards the body.

Booth watched her while bellowing in the phone. "I need you to check Marc Roberts. Dig up everything you can."

* * *

Dun-dun. Is that Roberts guy the Collector? Or was it only coincidence he used the same words? What do you think????? 


	19. Chapter 19

Hello again, sweeties. I hope people are still interested in this story. I am really, really sorry it took me so long to update, but I had big fat writer's block, and it still seems to affect me a little. Usually I was able to make at least three or four updates a week... but it's hard now... I really hope it's going to get better soon and I will be able to update more regularly.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter.

And: Thank you all for your reviews!!!

* * *

Chapter 19

Temperance Brennan's body shook uncontrollably for a few moments, then she managed to lie still again. Every once in a while these shivering fits were coming now, the fever and the cramps were slowly taking over her body. She knew, that there was not much time left for her. And still, every time she fell asleep, slipped away into unconsciousness the nightmare came again, haunting her... tricking her into feeling hope for a few cruel moments.

She had long ago cried all the tears there were to cry. Now she was not even able to do that anymore... The Collector had been here again, had talked to her, but she was too feverish to answer in coherent sentences. She had mumbled something and it seemed he had understood, that she was in no shape to grasp what he was talking about.

He had left a bottle of water for her... and a sudden touch of humanity made him hand her some aspirin. Maybe he thought it would bring her fever down until she could tell him more about what Booth and her had found out.

She, however, knew that some aspirin was not going to help her. She had swallowed it down of course, it was better than nothing, but it had not even succeeded in numbing the pain in her leg. The aspirin stood no chance against the vicious infection, the blood poisoning that held her in its grip. It was like trying to stop a buffalo herd with a butterfly net.

Her body shook again and caused her teeth to chatter and she felt cold, colder than ever before. A few minutes later she felt the heat of the fever return, her head seemed to nearly explode. 'I am dying' She thought, desperately clinging to the last bit of consciousness. 'Booth, oh, please don't blame yourself.' She sent a silent prayer to her partner. Then she closed her eyes and let blackness envelop her.

* * *

Booth was impatiently tapping his foot, causing Cam to give him a death glare: "Seeley I am working as fast as I can. But we still have protocols to follow... and I have to do this right, okay? If we hurry we might overlook something."

Booth's eyes widened when he heard her mention the protocols an autopsy had to go by. "I am sorry Cam." He whispered, remembering what had happened to her the last time he had hustled her into a rushed examination. She had nearly died because of the poison the sicko Epps had used, hidden in the head of his ex-wife.

She gave him a questioning look, but then understanding showed in her eyes. "I did not mean to... Don't feel guilty, Seeley, okay? Not everything that happens is your fault!"

He clenched his teeth, but he nodded slowly. When he looked at it objectively she was right... he was not the one to blame... but that did not stop him from feeling guilty. Nothing did.

"I will leave you to your work, Cam... Take the time you need." He slowly said and retreated, leaving Cam, Zach and the Collector's latest victim in the room.

Outside he saw Angela sitting in a chair, her eyes closed, but when she heard his footsteps she opened them hastily and blinked. "News?" She asked cautiously, but he just shook his head.

Angela sighed, a defeated look on her face. "I am so scared, Booth. She is my best friend... and that..." she pointed towards the autopsy room "... could have been her."

"I know." Booth simply answered, still recalling the fear that had nearly crushed him upon hearing that a female body had been found... and when he had seen the auburn hair... He swallowed hard and tried to banish the images that started to fill his head. "We will find her, Angela. We have to."

Angela looked up at the FBI agent, taking in his appearance. Dark circles were showing under his eyes and said eyes seemed to be hollow without that teasing sparkle that always had been hiding in the chocolate depths. The situation weighed down heavily an all of them... but something told Angela, that for Booth it was the worst. Brennan meant a lot to Angela, but she had always Hodgins to turn to. But Booth had nobody... and Angela was pretty sure that Brennan meant the world to him. She WAS his world, together with Parker.

"You love her." Angela whispered, no question in her voice. It was a statement.

She saw how Booth swallowed hard and how his eyes closed and after a moment he choked out: "Don't... Just don't... I can't do this, I have to stay focussed, Angela."

He opened his eyes and gave her one long and intense look, before whirling around and quickly leaving her, heading towards the exit.

He needed fresh air, needed to get out of the lab, where his subconscious always waited for Brennan to come around a corner, a file in her hand.

But he barely reached the door, when his cell phone started to ring. He glanced at the display and upon seeing that it was somebody from the FBI, he quickly answered. "Booth"

The words he heard next, made his eyes widen and he quickly turned around, his eyes fixed on Angela. When she saw the surprised look on his face, she quickly hopped to her feet. "What? What is it?"

Booth closed his mobile phone and his eyes met hers. "News." He announced. "We have a suspect."

* * *

Uh-oh... cliffie again. Yes, I am evil! You don't have to tell me, I already know... but if you want to tell me again, I'll just take it as a compliment ;)

Please let me know if you liked this chapter


	20. Chapter 20

Hello again, sweeties. Thank you all for your patience... I am still not back to my usual writing speed and to top it all off my computer freaked out yesterday... and the chapter I wrote was lost, so I had to write it again. I bet you can imagine that I swore like a sailor!

Thank you all for your reviews on the last chapter!

Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 20:

Booth opened the door to the pathology, Angela trailing after him. "We have a suspect."

Cam's and Zach's eyes were immediately focussed on him. Dr. Saroyan bit her lip and carefully asked. "Who?"

Booth avoided her eyes and answered. "Marc Roberts." Cam's hand started to tremble and she quickly placed the scalpel she had been holding on the table. "Oh my God."

Angela frowned, not understanding what was transpiring before her eyes. "I really thought having a suspect was something positive."

"They were dating." Zach supplied helpfully and Cam briefly closed her eyes at his words.

"Shit. You and our suspect were dating?" Angela's eyes widened. "Hold on... the hot guy who picked you up here last friday?"

Cam nodded again, but did not elaborate the subject any further. She just looked at Booth and asked in a defeated voice: "What did they find out?"

"Marc Roberts lived in London for a year and there are four unsolved murders with very similar MO to our cases here... except he did not call himself the Collector that time, left no notes. The murders stopped when he moved back to the States. And started here only four weeks after his arrival. Scotland Yard is interested in him too after talking to the FBI. He is pretty rich, he owns three estates only in the DC area. One bigger than the other." Booth explained quickly.

They all listened thoughtfully and after a few moments Cam voiced what everyone was thinking: "Not enough for a warrant to search his estates or get a sample of his DNA for comparison"

Booth sighed. "Exactly. That's why you have to find out... something. Give me something to work with." His sounded was hopeless and flat... once again he was at the point of an investigation he hated the most: He had a suspect and his gut told him, it was the RIGHT one... but he had to sit and wait until the squints had found something to nail the bastard's ass with.

They all avoided looking at each other, avoided to see how hopeless everybody felt... until suddenly Angela's body went rigid. "Cam... my God, Cam... he picked you up here, right? He walked into the building!"

Cam frowned at her and simply nodded. "Tapes!" Angela yelled at her friends. "He has to be on the tapes... I can compare him to the man we have on the other tapes... if it is a match,... God, it has to be a match." She raced out of the room leaving three stunned and speechless people behind her.

After a short pause Booth cleared his throat and with a hoarse voice he said. "Let's hope she is able to get a match. But you still have to find whatever you can... the more evidence the better." He quickly left the room too, trying to catch up with Angela.

Zach looked at his boss and said: "It may be a good thing you dated him. Otherwise we would have never had access to a tape with him on it."

Cam's eyes widened a little and she let out a humourless laugh. "Every cloud has its silver lining." Upon seeing Zach's confused look she chuckled – really this time. "Figure of speech, Zach. It means that sometimes bad things bring something good along, it's just a matter of the perspective."

"Oh." Zach nodded. "I understand."

Cam gave him grin, thinking of how much he resembled Brennan in the 'social awkwardness department'. "Come on, Zach, let's give Booth something to work with." And both returned their attention to the body in front of them.

* * *

A muffled sound woke her from her feverish slumber... It was a woman, crying, yelling, screaming for mercy. Pulling herself up into a half-sitting position, Brennan needed a few moments to get her brain working. Then her hazy gaze fixed on the door of her cell and she recognised her surroundings. She just wished she wouldn't... With the recognition of her situation came the knowledge that it was hopeless and that she was going to die sooner or later. Sooner being the more appealing option to her.

She hoped her fever would blur her brain completely soon, so that in case the Collector came to her next, after torturing the poor woman who's pleas Brennan was able to hear through the heavy metal door, she would not feel the pain, would not understand what was going on.

She let out a humourless laugh, her hand rubbing her throbbing forehead. Hoping for a quick death was all that was left for her. How miserable was that?

What had happened to her strength, to not ever giving up?

A single tear escaped her eyes and she half-expected it to vaporise on the burning hot skin of her cheek, but it travelled down her face, leaving a salty wet trace on her dirty cheek. She touched the skin with her fingertips and that very moment she knew The Collector was very close to what not even the sudden disappearance of her parents so many years ago had done to her: Breaking her will.

* * *

So, again, I want to inform you... I already know I am EVIL, no need to repeat that ;) But I promise the next chapter will give us a HUGE step forward!!!

Please tell me what you think!!!


	21. Chapter 21

Hello again!!! Thank you all for your wonderful reviews, it means a lot to me to get feedback!!! Chapter 21 is ready – wohoooo!

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Chapter 21:

Hodgins was engrossed in his work, trying to analyse the particles they had found on the latest victim... precisely entangled in the hair of the wig she had been wearing. He had made a visual comparison to the soil of the park, where she had been found and was glad to see that it wasn't a match. That meant the particles were either from the place where the victim got killed or where she had been held hostage. The chances were high that both places were the same. And that Brennan was there too, hopefully alive.

He was preparing a sample for the spectrometer, when he suddenly heard the quick clatter of heels approaching. "We have a suspect, he may be on the Jeffersonian tapes." His fiancée yelled at him, not bothering to stop and explain.

"Who?" Hodgins managed to shout after her, but Angela was already gone, vanished around the next corner, clearly heading for her office.

"Marc Roberts" A deep male voice said from behind him. Hodgins jumped at the unexpected sound and nearly knocked over a microscope. "Dude, don't sneak up on me like that. That equipment costs... a lot!... Hold on... Marc Roberts... why does that name sound familiar?"

"He was dating Cam?" Booth offered.

Hodgins pulled a face. "And how would I know about that? Do I look like a girl?... That's not why the name sounds familiar..." His brow furrowed and Booth could practically see the wheels turn inside his head.

"He told Cam he was thinking of becoming a donator for the Jeffersonian. Guess he is... frequenting the same circles as you are." Booth pointed out another possibility.

Hodgins eyes widened. "Cirlces? Dude, I spend most of my time here! But... Roberts. Marc Roberts, right!!! The Lovell Mansion auction... I placed a bid for that too, but he really, really wanted it, he paid twice what it's worth for it. I may be rich, but I am not a fool... I am not paying a fortune for a house that needs renovation." Jack shook his head, recalling the auction a few months ago.

"Whatever... " Booth said, not entirely comfortable with Hodgins talking about buying an estate as he might be talking about... say buying a new pair of shoes. Or maybe socks. "Cam went on a few dates with him and he picked her up here once. So Angela thinks she might have him on the tapes an can compare it to what we have from the cameras near Brennan's."

"That... would be enough for a warrant?" Hodgins asked cautiously.

"I hope so... and if not... I will find a way." Booth said and by the way his eyes glowed dangerously and his fierce expression on his face, Hodgins had no doubt that he was going to do everything he could to get to Brennan. Break-in included.

"Well... I have to run this test now... tell me if Ange finds anything, okay?" Hodgins asked the FBI agent, who gave back a crooked grin. "You wont need a messenger, she'll make herself... uhm...noticeable." Booth said.

Hodgins chuckled. "True."

And during this little exchange they noticed that there finally was spark of hope again. They exchanged a small, almost cautious smile and then Booth left Hodgins to his tests and followed Angela to her office.

* * *

Half an hour later, Booth's and Angela's eyes were glued to the screen. They finally had found Roberts on the Jeffersonian tapes and now Angela was able to start the comparison software that searched for matches regarding body posture, height and movement.

Angela grabbed the armrests of her chair, squeezed them tightly and nervously licked her dry lips. 'It has to be him, it has to be him, God PLEASE, it has to be him' She repeated in her head over and over again, like a mantra.

She risked a brief side glance towards Booth and saw that he was as nervous and impatient as she was.

Then she heard a beeping sound, announcing that the software had found something. She took in a deep breath and her eyes fixed on the words on the screen. "Congruence 98.5 prob." was blinking in green letters. The man who had disguised himself as an electrician to get access to Brennan's building was Marc Roberts, with 98.5 probability.

"I nailed your ass, you bastard." She yelled and jumped to her feet and felt Booth rise beside her too. She watched how he looked at the frozen picture of Marc Roberts on the screen and saw hatred in his dark eyes.

"I will get you, you asshole." He hissed through gritted teeth and Angela knew, it was a promise he intended to keep – whatever the cost.

Angela went to the door of her office and yelled outside: "It's Roberts" to let her co-workers know that they finally knew who the Collector was. She did not wait to listen to the exclaims and gasps of Hodgins and the others, but returned her attention to FBI agent in her office.

Booth took out his phone, flipped it open and dialled Caroline Julian's number. A few moments later he said: "Caroline. We have a suspect, he matches with the guy who had access to Bones' apartment and another one. Marc Roberts. Get me a warrant to search his estates... please."

"Marc Roberts, got it. Estates, cher? As in big and plural?" Caroline's voice came out of the speaker.

"Yeah. Three estates in DC area. I need the warrant NOW... You know, he... he has Bones." Booth confirmed and Caroline gave back. "I'm on it, cher." Booth gave back a short: "Thank you." Then he closed his phone again and took in a deep breath.

"I'll call the FBI, I hope I'll get three teams... if not I have to choose which house to search first..." Booth said, and briefly closed his eyes. What if he chose the wrong one first? A few hours could decide if Brennan was alive or not.

His internal debate was interrupted when they heard Hodgins' exclaim from outside Angela's office. "Booth! I know where she is!"

Angela and the FBI agent exchanged an astonished look, then they hurried outside to see what Jack had found.

* * *

What did Hodgins find? Where is she and will they come in time to save her???

Next update this week!!!

Reviews make me very happy!


	22. Chapter 22

Hello again!!! Thank you all for your wonderful reviews and thanks for telling me I am evil... I am just going to take it as a compliment **lol**

Please enjoy!

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Chapter 22:

Brennan shuddered. Some time ago, the screams had faded and the uncertainty what had caused them to stop made a lump form in her throat, every time she was alert enough to think about it. Was the woman dead? Was she injured that much she could not yell anymore? Unconscious? Or had she simply... resigned, given up?

The metallic noise of the small opening in her cell door being slid aside interrupted her thoughts and she gave the door a worried glance. She was in one of her better phases right now, the fever momentarily only lurking, not attacking with full force... she wished it was different. She wished for a sudden attack of fever so that she would not understand what was going to happen to her. She was sure The Collector had something in store for her.

The man who called himself The Collector only watched her for some time, then he snickered. "You don't look so uptight and self-confident anymore, Doc. Go wash and tidy yourself up a bit, won't you?"

She gave a weak shake of her head. Why washing herself? Getting up and stumbling over to the sink would hurt... and she would only destroy possible evidence, in case her co-workers would have to examine her body after he had dumped it somewhere. The though made her swallow hard.

"Do it!" The Collector's voice hissed. "I want to spend a little time with you, Doc... but to be frank, you stink."

Her eyes widened, when she realised he probably wanted her to wash herself so that he could come in and touch her, maybe rape her. A sudden wave of nausea hit her.

"Do it, Doc... I am going to hurt you either way, but your co-operation may... help your situation considerably. To Keep the pain level low, you understand?"

Tears sprang to her eyes, but she started to move, dragged herself over to the sink, gritting her teeth against the searing pain in her leg.

"Good, very good. I'll be back in a few minutes, Doc." His voice carried over to her and she heard how he slammed the slit shut again.

Brennan reached for the rim of the sink and pulled herself up a little until she could reach the tap and let cold water fill her hands. She stank, he had said... well, there was nothing she could do about that... it was the fever, the infection... she was not going to be able to wash it away. She splashed her face with cold water and enjoyed the feeling of the cool droplets against her hot skin.

But then her injured thigh bumped against the rim of the sink and the pain that raced through her body made her vision blur. Even as she gasped because of the pain, nausea and dizziness came over her and darkness claimed her once more.

* * *

Four people watched Hodgins' every movement, as he reached for a sheet of paper, fresh out of the printer.

"Where is she?" Booth urged him, impatience in his voice.

"Lovell mansion." Hodgins answered and got blank faces from all the squints, but only an instant later an expression of recognition dawned on Booth's face. "The estate he bought some months ago. The one you placed a bid for." It was more a statement than a question.

"Exactly." Hodgins confirmed, looking excited. "I found particles in the wig of the last victim. I found a very rare fungus, it's called..."

"Short version, please." Booth snapped.

"It's a kind of fungus that normally only is found in cellars where Champagne is or has been stored. Since I wanted to buy the estate, I know that parts of the cellar of Lovell mansion have been built with bricks of a French Champagne cellar."

Angela gave him a doubtful look. "They shipped bricks from Europe only to build a cellar with it?" Her voice made clear that she thought something like that was just plain crazy.

"A big wine cellar. Jean Lovell was rich and his mother is from France, so he wanted to..." Hodgins started to explain.

Booth raised his hand to interrupt him. "Are we 100 percent positive that this is the only house here with that... fungus in the cellar?"

Hodgins shrugged. "Not 100 percent, but the probability that anybody else has bricks of a European Champagne cellar in his house is... practically non-existent."

Zach corrected "Actually the probability would be about.." but he fell silent, when Angela elbowed him. "Practically non-existent is enough" She said, with a hint of hope in her voice.

Booth took in a deep breath. "Okay. Good work, Hodgins. I'll call the FBI, they have to get a team ready. God, I hope Caroline hurries with that warrant... or I'll just break in there myself." He said, determined.

Cam had been silent all the time, gripping the railing of the platform tightly until the knuckles of her hand had turned white. "He has Rottweilers" She now murmured.

Booth's eyes widened at her words and for the first time he seemed to even notice how the confirmation that the man she had been dating was The Collector was affecting her.

"You've been there?" He gently asked, but Cam shook her head. "No... he told me he has at least two Rottweilers at every house."

She seemed to be avoiding his gaze, but he knew that he would be able to see tears in her eyes if she would turn her face to look at him. He had heard them in her voice. Usually he would have tried to comfort her, but there was no time, he had to get a team ready, had to make pressure to get the warrant.

He gave Angela a pleading look and the artist immediately understood and nodded.

"Cam?" She said softly and placed a hand on her shoulder. "It's alright. Come on, let's go to your office and have a coffee."

Booth looked at them for another moment, then he turned around, pulling out his phone. He had to call Cullen.

* * *

Yeah, I know, Brennan is still in danger, Booth is still not there to rescue her, but I promise things will change soon. After all, they now know where she is!

Will Caroline get the warrant or will Booth have to play the lone gunman?

Reviews make me VERY happy!


	23. Chapter 23

Thank you for your reviews, sweeties, you rock my socks!!! THANK YOU!!!

* * *

Chapter 23:

Booth was pacing nervously, clutching his phone tightly as if that would cause it to ring any earlier. The FBI-team was ready, the only thing missing was the warrant... the god damn warrant.

His movements were observed by Angela, who was now waiting with him, after coming back from Cam's office a few minutes earlier. It seemed that Cam had more or less recovered from her shock that she really had been dating a serial killer. She had returned to examine the body of the poor woman The Collector had killed only a few hours before. Hodgins and Zach were busy with analysing more evidence they had found on the body.

Booth sighed. Caroline had called him, told him that the judge had informed her, that it was already evening and therefore too late and she should contact him the next morning. As if!

Booth had bellowed in the phone that he had woken a judge in the middle of the night to get a signature because of Epps, a convicted murderer. Surely Bones deserved MORE than Epps!

Caroline had told him to calm down, that she was already at the judge's office and not ready to leave without a signed warrant. Booth trusted her, he knew that Caroline Julian was not the kind of person to give up easily. Still, half an hour had passed since he had talked to her and he was ... desperate, he had to admit to himself.

He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment and tried to muster up patience, tried to count to ten, but he failed. "That's it" He hissed. "I am not going to wait for that warrant. And if I go in there all by myself. I just can't take it anymore."

Angela gave him an understanding look, but then her eyes widened a little.

"No need, cher. I have your warrant right here." The prosecutor's voice came from behind him. He never before had thought of Caroline Julian's voice sounding like angel's singing – and who would ever make that comparison again? - but now he did. Booth whirled around and quickly hugged the older woman tight. "Thank you!"

He snatched the warrant out of her hand and hurried out of the office without another word, followed by Angela, who only waved at the prosecutor, trying to keep up with Booth's quick pace.

Caroline was surprised by his sudden display of affection and gratitude, but recovered quickly. "Don't do anything stupid, Booth! I really want to wipe the court floor with that asshole." She yelled after them, but got no answer in return, Booth merely acknowledge her words with a wave of his hand. She watched Booth hurry through the lab, followed by Angela who was yelling for her colleagues, obviously determined to accompany the FBI agent.

"I hope she is alright." Caroline Julian whispered to herself. Despite her somewhat distanced behaviour towards "the fool" Temperance Brennan she had grown to respect, even like her. A sentiment she would never ever admit to anybody.

But she was even more concerned for Booth... she simply liked the younger man, had developed something close to motherly feelings for him... and she was pretty sure that losing Temperance Brennan would crush him.

* * *

She slowly regained consciousness... or something similar anyway. If being aware of pain counted as being conscious, well then she was. Her eye-lids felt heavy and she did not want to lift the enormous weight, no, she wanted to die before he came to her again.

She had heard him talk to her... The Collector... she remembered that he had told her to wash herself and then she had hurt her injured thigh at the sink and passed out.

Memory – so her brain was working, more or less anyway. But her body felt awful... absolutely awful. There was not only the pain in her injured leg... there also was a throbbing pain on the backside of her head, where it had collided with the hard concrete floor when she had fainted. And the fever... it was not back with full force, but she felt it build again... felt how sweat started to cover her forehead and how heat coursed through her body.

He was going to be back soon... and he was going to be furious when he saw that she had not 'prepared' herself for him. But Temperance Brennan was already beyond the point to even care. She only wished for one thing: A quick and merciful death.

And she was pretty sure that her last wish was not going to be fulfilled. She swallowed hard.

But maybe she was going to be able to enrage him enough to lose control, so that he would kill her quickly – in the spur of the moment.

Tears started to fill her eyes, when she thought of the people who had been important to her in her life. And while she pictured Booth, complete with one of his ridiculously flashy ties and his cocky belt buckle, her weakened body betrayed her and she passed out once more, a faint smile tugging on her lips and tears clinging to her eyelashes.

* * *

While running outside, Booth ordered the FBI team to Lovell Mansion by phone, then he hurried towards his SUV. He heard the clatter of Angela's heels behind him and her voice when she exclaimed: "Wait... we want to come with you."

He turned around, intent on not spending anything more than a split-second. "Well, hurry!" He yelled at her. He saw Hodgins and Zach appear behind her, shortly followed by Cam, who was still pretty pale. "I am staying" She said, swallowing hard. "I don't want to see him... and somebody has to stay here"

Booth acknowledged her words with a short nod and opened the door of his SUV, impatiently motioning for the other squints to do the same.

He did not look back at Dr. Camille Saroyan... his future lay ahead, or at least he hoped so. Hoped with all his heart that Temperance Brennan was alive.

* * *

Oh, yes, I know, I know... Cheese, you are a tease. Cheese, you are evil. Cheese, god damn it, let Booth rescue her! Don't you dare to let her die, Cheese. Cheese, do you heave to drag it out like that?

I have to – Musie wants it that way!!! I think that about sums it up, right? But I would still LOVE to get reviews, sweeties!!! ;)


	24. Chapter 24

Thank you for your reviews, sweeties, you truly rock!!! And of course another very BIG thank you for your patience... I know it's been torture...

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Chapter 24:

Booth rang the doorbell impatiently, the FBI team waiting behind him. He wanted to storm in and simply shoot anything that was in motion – except Bones of course – but he needed to stick to the protocol. And wallowing in his revenge was not going to help Bones a little bit, so he just forced down the emotions as good as he could.

He glanced at the squints, who were standing beside a FBI van, not allowed to join the team until everything was declared cleared. If the identical frowns they wore were any indicator, they were anything but happy about that arrangement.

Finally a middle-aged man in a black suit opened the door and it took Booth a moment to understand that he was in fact standing in front of a butler. 'Bet his name is James' he thought sarcastically.

The man asked what he could do for him, stating that his master - 'master, seriously' Booth thought – was not present.

Booth showed his warrant and gave the man a brief explanation that they were authorised to search the whole estate including the cellars. The butler – his name was Anthony as he informed Booth – quirked an eyebrow and told him that he was not going to let them pass without his master's consent.

Booth gave him a fake smile and simply said: "That would be considered resistance against sovereignty. Does'nt really give the best impression. And we simply do not need your or your 'employer's' consent. So, you either move aside or we force our way in. Your choice."

Anthony's eyes widened, but though he seemed to be very loyal to his employer, he chose the wiser way and moved aside, granting access to Booth and his team. "Good choice." Booth murmured and entered the house. "Who is here?" He asked the butler.

"Maura, the cook, and me at the moment. Mr. Roberts has not been here in days." Anthony informed him, the tone of his voice nasal.

Booth shook his head. "You're lying. He has at least been here yesterday... and I bet he was here today too."

Anthony shook his head, his eyes widening, obviously he was resentful of somebody accusing him to be a liar. "Master Roberts has not been in this house since three days. And that was only for a brief visit. He has other estates."

Booth's eyes narrowed a bit and after a moment of thinkin he asked. "Is there a separate entry to the wine cellars?"

Anthony seemed to be surprised. "How would you know about the mansion's wine cellars?"

"Just answer." Booth pressed through gritted teeth, his impatience and simmering rage showing in his eyes.

Anthony saw the barely controlled rage Booth was in and was quick to reply. "The wine cellars are deep in the hill, part of it are caves, as far as I know, but I have never been inside, Master Roberts said the cellars were too dilapidated."

Anthony moved to one of the big windows that surveyed the wide gardens of the estate. "You see the cot over there?" He gestured towards a cot surrounded by trees. "Behind it is a path. The entry to the wine cellars is a two-minute's walk into the wood from there... it's built into the hill, as I said. But master Roberts keeps the gate locked, because it's too dangerous."

Booth shook his head "I don't think so." and ordered three of the seven agents to come with him to investigate the cellars, but he was stopped by the butler, who seemed to be confused. "I don't understand why you..."

"You don't need to understand. Is there another way to get to the entry of the cellars... unseen from the house?" Booth interrupted the man.

Anthony frowned at being interrupted, but finally answered. "There is an old logging road through the wood behind it. It leads near to the entry. Why do you ask?"

Booth shook his head. "No time. Stay here." He took one of the other agents aside and whispered to him to make sure the butler was not going to call his employer and warn him.

Then he gestured to the three agents to follow him, leaving the house and swiftly running across the lawn towards the cabin, observed by a still confused butler.

* * *

Brennan woke with a gasp as cold water made contact with her hot skin. Water dripped from her hair into her eyes and she breathed heavily, not understanding what was happening to her.

Then she blinked and saw the Collector standing in front of her, a bucket in his hands. "You did not get yourself cleaned up, Doc. That was a mistake. I will correct that."

He reached for another bucket beside him and she buried her face in her hands trying to brace herself for more cold water, but instead it was hot water that splashed over her. Very hot water, that stung her skin, leaving it red and sensitive. She moaned, and the sound caused the man in front of her to laugh wickedly. "Sheesh, was that too hot?" He asked in fake concern and laughed again.

He reached over to the sink and filled the bucket again, his gaze always fixed on her, observing her every movement. Not that she was able to move much anyway. She spotted that he had placed something on the rim of the sink and a sick feeling rose in her: It was a condom.

She swallowed hard when The Collector had filled the bucket again and raised it to splash her with water again. He waited for a moment, visibly enjoying that she was afraid and did not know if he was going to hit her with cold or hot water. "Ready?" He asked, another fake smile in his voice.

She made a weak attempt to turn away from him, but he was faster. She barely had time to cover her face with her hands again, when the water made contact with her skin. Cold this time again, icy cold like water from a mountain spring. She shuddered, felt how the skin on her hands tingled and stung with the sudden change of temperature. The sickening sound of his laughter filled his ears and she shuddered... due to the cold, wet clothes clinging to her body as well as to the knowledge that she was going to die... but that he was going to take his time with her first.

Then an odd ringing sound filled the air and The Collector whirled around, throwing the bucket into a corner of her cell. "What?" He gasped, both stunned and enraged and quickly opened the door of her cell to storm out and leaving her, wet and shivering, on the floor.

Her thoughts were unsorted and hazy, but she still managed to identify the ringing sound as some kind of alarm.

Two days ago the sound would have made her feel hope. Now it only made her pass out again.

* * *

Wow, isn't the Collector an evil one? Oh, and an alarm? That can only mean something good, right? Or not? I know, I am evil and all that ... blah-blah ;) But I promise to update soonish, maybe even today, so keep your rotten tomatoes! grins

Reviews would be wonder-awesome!


	25. Chapter 25

Wowza…… Okay, let's check: I got threatened, but no rotten tomatoes ……. Now is that good or bad? Hm... I guess the only way to make sure I stay alive is to post the next chapter... and here it is! Please enjoy!

AAAAAAND: Thank you for your reviews, sweeties! I am really, really flattered.

* * *

Chapter 25

The FBI agents slowly approached the entrance to the wine cellar. The butler had not been lying, there had indeed be a narrow and overgrown path leading from the cot through the wood towards the entrance, that was built into the hill. From the other direction, out of the wood, footprints led to the big doors and Booth instinctively knew, that this had to be the right place. She had to be here, now he only had to get her out. Piece of cake, right?

He swallowed hard, but ignored every emotion, he let all the years of training take over and drown out his sentiments until all that remained was alertness and rationality. Bones would be so proud, he thought sarcastically.

He motioned for two of the agents to take the right side of the door, he and the other agent took the left. Booth reached for the handle but before he took a step towards the door, something caught his attention. A cable, partially hidden under the doormat. A doormat in front of the entrance to an abandoned wine cellar? Something did not add up here...

Booth was pretty sure that The Collector had hidden a pressure sensor underneath it, as a part of an alarm system. His gaze went around, searching the door frame, and sure enough he found a small hole in the wood in one corner. He nodded to himself, finding his suspicion confirmed... there had to be a camera behind it.

He pointed to the camera and to the doormat to show the other agents what he had found, not daring to speak since somewhere there might be a hidden microphone too. He hesitated before reaching for the handle again, but he figured that since there was the pressure sensor beneath the mat it was unlikely that the handle itself was wired to the surveillance system too. He took in a deep breath and reached forward, careful not to step on the door mat, and pressed down the handle, gently pushing the door. But...it did not open...

He saw that there were two big iron rings on the outside of the heavy wooden door and that there were scrapings on them that indicated that there used to be a chain to keep the door closed. Since there was no other device or lock he came to one logical conclusion:

The door had to be bolted from the inside. The bastard was at home. Booth briefly closed his eyes, trying to cling to his professional calmness and stepped back.

He motioned for the agents to follow him away from the door and they retreated into the shadows of the forest until Booth thought a possible microphone was not going to receive the sound of their voices anymore.

"The door is bolted from the inside, that means he is inside too. I think there is a pressure sensor beneath the mat and there surly is a camera in the left upper corner of the door frame. There also might be a microphone." He explained.

"Can we shoot the lock?" The youngest agent asked and got back scolding looks from the others. "Did you see a lock?" One of them asked and Booth shook his head. "I said it's bolted... meaning there is a bolt on the inside, not a lock. And the door is solid, I don't think we can kick it in."

One of the agents let out a humourless laugh. "Not unless you want your leg broken instead of the door. Have you seen those hinges? Solid's an understatement, pal."

They looked at each other and one of the agents asked hesitantly. "We could get in with a motor saw."

Booth sighed. "You have one handy?" He asked sarcastically. The other agents shook their heads. "Would not be very subtle anyway... he would hear us and ... the situation could escalate... No, there has to be another way."

"SWAT?" Another one asked and Booth shook his head vigorously. "It would take forever to get a SWAT team here. She...THEY could be dead by then. No." Booth dismissed the proposition.

Booth started to pace, as he often did while thinking of a solution. After a few minutes he stopped and looked at the other agents for a moment. "I have an idea. I don't know if it is going to work, but it's worth a try."

The other agents looked at him curiously and he quickly explained his plan to his them.

A few minutes later they heard the distant sound of an alarm from the other side of the door.

* * *

The Collector cursed. He had been forced to leave her right in the middle of the lesson he was teaching her. That was not good... he never left them until he was finished with them. But the alarm ... he had to go and see what had caused the alarm. The last time – and that had been weeks ago – it had been a stray cat... peeing on the damn mat. He had to replace it, because otherwise dozens of cats would have come to the door and pee on the same damn spot ... and actuate the pressure sensor underneath the mat... or soak it until it was ruined.

When he reached the little monitor that showed the area outside the door, he sighed in relief. There was nobody there... but still, he had to make sure. He had used baits with poison to get rid of the cats, but maybe one had survived. In case it was another cat again, he would have to replace the mat... again. The Collector pressed the button to stop the alarm sound, all the time cursing under his breath and reached for his gun.

Then he climbed the dark stairs to the entrance with its heavy wooden door.

* * *

Soooooo, Booth and his colleagues are at the right place, that's good, right? Yeah? Good! (Please note, not all I do is evil, okay?) And they have a plan, that's even better! (See, good things and better things... so please just keep you rotten tomatoes for another chapter and no more threatening please ;) )

REVIEWS however, make me very happy and they also have that little side benefit of increasing my writing speed ;)


	26. Chapter 26

Hey again, people! Thank you all for reading and of course for REVIEWING! You really rock!

Here we go... chapter 26 is ready! Wohoo!

* * *

Chapter 26 

Booth heard how the faint noise of the alarm stopped and held his breath. That could only mean The Collector had deactivated it. Booth hoped that Roberts really was going to come up to open the door and check what had caused the alarm in the first place.

The solid door faced the wood and Booth and two of his agents were hiding behind the big trees, Agent Denton, the smallest and leanest of the agents, however was not. He cowered in the blind spot of the camera, with his knees tight against his chest, looking like a child playing hide and seek.

Booth would have taken the position himself, but he was taller and his broad structure made it impossible for him to squeeze himself together like Agent Denton. Booth only hoped Denton was not going to get hurt because of his crazy plan. The plan that hopefully was going to get them into that wine cellar. Get him to Bones.

According to the plan, the younger agent was supposed to grab the door and hold it wide open as soon as Roberts opened it, to give Booth and the other two agents a free line of fire. They had switched off their walkie-talkies and agreed upon some basic signs to communicate without words.

Two minutes after the low buzz of the alarm had stopped, Denton made on of the signs they had agreed on. It meant 'I hear something'.

Booth exhaled slowly, calming his inner turmoil. He still stood behind the tree, peeking around the trunk, the gun in his right hand aiming at the door. He knew the other two agents were doing exactly the same.

Booth's gaze was fixed on the door and the man cowering beside it. He could see how Agent Denton's body tensed and he knew that the bolt had been slid away on the inside of the door. He pressed his teeth together. Then the door opened, only slightly, but it was enough.

Denton's hands shot forward to the handle and he pulled it towards him with all his strength, revealing a very surprised – and shocked – Marc Roberts. He had a gun in his hand, but obviously no idea at what to aim it.

"FBI" Booth bellowed. "Lower your weapon, Roberts. Or we will make you." But he did not... for nothing more than a split-second Booth's and Roberts' gaze met and then Roberts whirled around, retreating into the darkness of the entrance to the wine cellar. "Stop" Booth yelled and fired his gun, but all he could see was darkness and he had no idea at what he was firing.

"We're going in!" He ordered his colleagues, then he switched his walkie-talkie on again and repeated the sentence. After receiving a confirmation he shut it off again. "Be careful and quiet, we don't know anything about that cellar, he may try to ambush us somewhere." His colleagues nodded and Denton appeared behind the door, his gun in his head.

"I think you got him." The young agent informed Booth. "I heard him cry out, I think you shot him."

"Good" Booth grumbled. "He deserves pain. Loads of it. Now, come on, no time to lose. He still has women down there... and he may try to kill them."

* * *

Angela clutched Hodgins' hand tightly, her eyes nervously following the agents who roamed the house. There were no news from Booth, who had left with three agents towards the wine cellar some time earlier. 

Then the sound of a gun-shot tore through the silence and she yelped in surprise, giving her fiancé a shocked and worried look. A few moments later the walkie-talkie of an agent nearby croaked a "We're going in." It was Booth's voice and Angela's body started to tremble.

"That means... that means..." She stammered and looked at Hodgins and Zach.

Jack gently took her hand. "That means that there is a chance that Booth is going to get her out."

"Yeah. Right." Angela breathed, but her body was still trembling, until Hodgins enveloped her in a tight hug. "She is my best friend, Jack." She whispered into his ear and he nodded and simply said: "I know."

"Booth is going to bring her back." Zach murmured and both his colleagues turned around to face him, giving him an astonished look. Zach saw the stunned expression on their faces and blushed slightly, somewhat embarrassed. "I know that there is no scientific proof for that, I just..."

"You have faith in Booth. We all have. Even Dr. Brennan." Jack gave him a wry smile. "It's human."

Zach frowned a little. "It's irrational." Jack nodded. "Yeah, well, human."

Angela lowered her head to her fiancé's shoulder, murmuring "I hate waiting."

Then she closed her eyes and breathed in the scent of his after-shave, trying to let it soothe her.

* * *

I bet you all hate waiting too, right? 

But the wait is soon over... the next chapter will finally show what's going on in the wine cellar. I know this has been a short chapter, but I am already working on the next one... So, uhm... I am still not too fond of rotten tomatoes... I also don't like it when you throw knives or other sharp things... just remember, only happy writers write fast and guess, what makes me happy?

Yep, you're right: REVIEWS.


	27. Chapter 27

Yes, I know I left the last chapter with a cliffie... that's why this update is coming so soon ... don't want to torture you too long ;)

Thank you for your reviews and for still reading! I really hope you will like this chapter.

* * *

Chapter 27: 

Booth, Denton and the other two agents slowly walked down the stairs. Once they had been inside, it only had taken their eyes a few moments to adjust to the dimly lit cave-like cellar.

There were niches in the walls, every single one of them occupied by oil lamps, which flickered when the agents passed by. The wavering light gave the staircase leading down from entrance to the cellar an even eerier touch. Which seemed to be the purpose, since Roberts could have used electrical lights too... There had to be electricity or his surveillance system would not have worked, Booth thought.

When they finally reached the bottom, Booth's eyes widened. The wine cellar was huge, it had to have about the same dimensions as the hill it was built under. He looked around, taking in the rows of shelves with bottled wine and the big barrels. Thick columns were supporting the weight of the arches of the ceiling. Down here, The Collector had exchanged the eerie glow of the oil lamp against the cold artificial light of neon lamps, doubtless it would have been too much work to refill all the oil lamps. But there were still only few lamps and there remained many shadowy corners.

Booth sniffed the air and was surprised not to find it reeking stale and humid, as he had anticipated, it seemed fresh enough. 'A second entrance or a ventilation system' He thought.

His gaze moved over the walls of the cellar and finally he spotted a door on the other side of the big room. He motioned for one of the agents to go with him, moving around the shelves and barrels on the right side and gestured for Denton and the other agent to take the left side. Slowly and silently they moved forward, checking every corner for The Collector until both teams met again at the door.

Booth took in a deep breath and tried to brace himself, then he pushed the door open. The sight before him let him gasp, before he could catch himself.

His eyes were fixed on a wall, a wall that was covered by pictures. Photographs taken from the women The Collector had tortured. They were always unconscious. Or dead.

Booth recognised most of the women... there was one picture of the woman, unconscious – drugged as Booth assumed - obviously right after The Collector had kidnapped her. There were nicknames scribbled onto the pictures, like 'Deedee' or 'Little Nurse'.

Most of the pictures had a second one underneath the first one. A picture taken of the dead body of the respective woman, where The Collector had placed them and where they had been waiting for Booth and Bones to find them. Booth swallowed hard, searching for HER picture.

When he finally spotted Brennan's picture, the breath caught in his throat. She looked pale and vulnerable on it and the nickname written on it was 'Doc'. One single picture of Bones. She had to be alive. Relief flooded him, but he still had to remain alert.

Booth quickly blinked and forced his attention away from the appalling sight of the wall.

He peeked around the corner and saw that here, the interior of the cellar seemed to be modern... There was a large room with concrete floor, seven metal doors were built into the longer side of it, but one of them looked smaller and less heavily built.

He moved forward, his back facing the wall, the other agents following him. His eyes searched the room for The Collector, but all he saw was a small desk with a screen, that showed a blurry image of the door upstairs. Papers were scattered over the surface of the desk, but still no sign of The Collector. There were no corners to hide, nothing. He had to be behind one of these doors.

Booth motioned for the other agents to come nearer. "We have to open the doors, Denton, Shriver, you start left, Morris and I on the right. Be careful." He whispered and the other agents nodded, accepting the orders of the senior agent.

Silently he moved towards the first of the heavily built metal doors, Agent Morris right behind him. Booth saw that there was a slit at eye-level but he dismissed the idea of opening it to look at what was behind the door. The Collector might be standing there, ramming something into his eye – not really a mistake he intended to make. He motioned for Morris to open the door, while he was aiming at whatever or whoever was inside.

Morris reached for the locking bar, cautiously slid it aside and quickly opened the door. The room – no the cell, Booth corrected himself - was empty, except for a table and a chair, a blanket and a pillow. And a big blood stain on the concrete floor.

Booth stepped back and motioned for Morris to move towards the next door, but was startled when he heard a low curse from the other two agents. He whirled around and looked at Denton and Shriver... they had started with the smaller door and it was now wide open. Booth saw daylight seeping in and knew why Denton had cursed. It was the second exit he had been wondering about earlier.

"He's gone." Shriver added needlessly. Booth nodded. "Examine the area outside and contact the others that Marc Roberts has escaped. We're going to open these cells. If they... they may need medical treatment, make sure the EMTs come down here."

Denton and Shriver nodded and left through the door, while Booth turned towards Morris.

"You start here, I'll take the left. ...Morris, be... gentle, they might be in shock... and in bad shape." Booth added after a moment, remembering the bodies they had found.

Morris gave him a short and understanding nod, he had seen the picture wall after all.

Booth walked over to the first door on the left side and slowly opened it.

A blond woman was cowering in the corner and stared at him, her eyes wide open.

"Shhh" he soothed her. "It's okay. I am with the FBI. It's over, we are going to get you out of here."

She blinked slowly, and it took a few long moments until understanding showed in her eyes. She started to tremble and shrieked, when Agent Denton appeared beside Booth in the doorway. "Denton, careful, she is in shock. Talk to her." Booth said to him in a low murmur, trying not to scare the young woman. Denton nodded and said: "It's okay, lady. You're safe now. The EMTs are coming and will take care of you."

Booth gave her a reassuring look and left the cell, moving on to the next, hoping with all his heart he was going to find Bones behind the door.

* * *

The Collector escaped... for now. Okay, please let me know what you think about this chapter. Did you like it? 


	28. Chapter 28

Thank you all for your awesome reviews, sweeties, you rock! Well, what will Booth find behind that door?

* * *

Chapter 28:

Booth opened the metal door cautiously, trying to brace himself against what ever was waiting for him. The stale and unmistakable smell of illness greeted him and he swallowed hard. Then his gaze settled on the figure on the floor, curved into a fetal position in the middle of the cell.

And though he could only see her back and her hair was dripping wet – as were her clothes – he immediately recognised her. Her body was shaking and seeing her like that nearly tore his heart out... but she was alive and that was all that counted.

"Bones" He exclaimed and rushed forward, nearly stumbling over a bucket. He moved closer towards her body and tears formed in his eyes when he saw how pale her skin was and how hard her body shook. "Bones, can you hear me?" Her eyelids fluttered, but remained closed.

He was somewhat hesitant to touch her... she did not react to his voice any further and touching her might pull her out of her catatonic state in a brutal way. Unsure what to do he simply knelt beside her and whispered her name again. "Bones, please, Bones... "

And then – suddenly – her lips moved, forming words. "Go away. You are not real." Her voice sounded hoarse and broken and was barely audible. The defeated and fearful tone, that was so different from how her voice usually sounded, made his heart ache.

"Bones, please ... look, I am really here." Carefully he took her hand in his and was shocked how cold, clammy and lifeless it felt in his strong warm hand. With his other hand he gently smoothed her hair and stroked her cheek. The skin of her face felt hot under his fingers and he knew she was having a fever.

"Bones...You are ill, we have to get you to the hospital. But please, I need you to talk to me. I need you to look at me." His voice was pleading, but she did not open her eyes but whispered. "Go. Don't haunt me. Go, you are not real." Her body shook even more now and he squeezed her hand gently. "Please, look at me, Temperance."

Booth felt how her body suddenly went rigid and her eyelids fluttered open and after a moment her gaze settled on his face. Booth watched how the different emotions that raged in her showed on her face, doubt battling with recognition, wonder with understanding.

She blinked and tears started to form in her eyes... in her nightmares, he had never called her Temperance.

"Booth?" She finally whispered, her voice barely audible. His heart skipped a beat.

"Bones, oh God, you scared me so much... I am here, it's over, okay." His voice was thick with emotion and there were not only tears in her eyes, but also in his.

"You are real. You called me Temperance. You found me." She whispered and he just nodded, not understanding why that meant so much to her, but also not caring.

All he wanted to do was to take her in his arms, but he remembered how The Collector had treated his other victims. Remembered the bruises, the broken bones.

He swallowed hard and whispered. "Can I just hold you... I ... don't want to hurt you." He nearly choked on the words, the mere thought of what he may have done to her was hurting him. Nothing more than the ghost of a faint smile appeared on her face and he was sure it was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen in his entire life. "I'd like that." She murmured and he gently pulled her into an embrace. "Oh, thank God. I've got you. It's over" He whispered, to himself or to her was not clear anymore, but it did not matter.

Tears were streaming down his face, mingling with hers as their cheeks touched, hers so hot it felt like fire against his skin. Booth held her still slightly trembling body as tight as he dared and murmured reassuring words into her ear. Then he suddenly felt how she became limp in his arms and he knew she had fallen unconscious.

Pressing a soft kiss to her wet hair, he scooped her up in his arms and carried her out of the cell, yelling for the EMTs.

* * *

Angela's fingernails were digging painfully into the flesh of Jack's underarm – but he did not dare to object - and she was nervously biting her lower lip while they were waiting for news of Booth's team. When finally one of the walkie-talkie's broke the silence, they all held their breath.

"Here Denton. The suspect has escaped, I repeat, the suspect has escaped. He is armed, but probably wounded. There is another exit in the middle of the wood, rough terrain, we wait for back-up before going after him. The cellar is safe, send down EMTs..."

Angela watched how the EMTs who had been waiting nearby hurried off towards the wood and shuddered. She barely listened to what the agent near her answered, she only choked out: "Is she there? Is she ... alive?".

The agent near her gave her an odd look, but Denton seemed to have heard her question because the walkie-talkie croaked: "No identifications so far, Booth and Morris are inside, but in the cellar there is no reception, the walls are too thick, I guess. We will go back inside too and wait for the EMTs."

Angela let out a strangled sob. "I have to see... I have to know if she is there!" Hodgins placed a hand on her arm, but she shook it off. "I need to know, Jack."

Her fiancé nodded. "I know, Angela. Booth is going to let us know as soon as he has her."

She shook her head. "I need to go there" She turned towards the FBI agent. "Please can't I just go down there?" The man looked at her and gave her an understanding, but also apologising look. "No, I am sorry, lady, but I really can't let you go inside now. We have to ensure medical treatment first..." Angela gave him a look that would have let any man flinch, but the FBI agent stood his ground. "I am sorry, but that's how it has to be."

Jack took her hand in his, squeezing it gently. "Just a few minutes, then we will know more." He assured the artist and gave her an encouraging smile. She swallowed hard and squeezed his hand tightly... and so they waited until a few minutes later the walkie-talkie croaked again.

"Shriver here. We found five women. One of them...is dead. Two positive identifications. Monica Portman. Temperance Brennan."

Angela's body went rigid. "Is Brennan dead or alive, god damn it?" She exclaimed at the top of her voice, interrupting the FBI agent who had just been about to repeat the information back for confirmation.

"Sorry" The walkie-talkie croaked again. "The dead victim is not yet identified. All other women are in need of medical treatment, but alive."

Angela let out the breath she had been holding, not paying attention to the exchange between the agents anymore.

"Oh, thank GOD!" She sighed and hugged her fiancé tight, then she turned around to Zach and pulled him into a quick embrace.

The agent who had been waiting with them cleared his throat audibly. "Ehem... We can now go to the entrance ...if you like."

"Are you kidding?" Angela asked and was already hurrying towards the wood before the agent could even open his mouth to reply.

* * *

Sooooo, Booth found her! Wohoooooo!

What do you say, did you like it? Reviews make me very happy!


	29. Chapter 29

Wow, I am overwhelmed, once again so many reviews!!! Thank you all so much!

Ta-ta! The next chapter is ready...

* * *

Chapter 29:

Booth watched how the EMTs hovered over Bones, checking her vital functions, murmuring words he could not follow. His brain barely registered that the other agents had opened the remaining cells. He heard them talk about one dead woman and he briefly thought that that could have been Bones, but he shoved the thought aside and all his attention was back to her. She did not move, she did not wake up and he sighed, his eyes fixed on her pale face, her skin that had such an unhealthy colour it made him want to shake her, only to see her open her eyes, to know she was still somewhere inside.

Then the EMT loosened the self-made bandage on her thigh and her body jerked, a reaction to the pain, albeit she remained unconscious. The EMT hissed as he examined the wound and Booth knew that it had to be bad.

"How bad" He thought, not even knowing he had said the words aloud until the EMT answered: "The wound is not too deep, but it's badly infected. Advanced blood poisoning. Pulse is high and she has a fever." Booth briefly closed his eyes in silent acceptance of the news, while the EMT addressed one of his colleagues.

"Charlie, she's an urgent one." The other EMT nodded and Booth watched him fix a red tag to the stretcher Brennan lay sprawled out on. "What does that mean?" He whispered hoarsely and Charlie answered without hesitation. "Mortal danger. There should be a helicopter landing soon and red tags get a flight, yellow and green a ride on the car."

"She's not just a red tag." Booth pressed through gritted teeth and gave the EMT a harsh look, but the middle-aged man did not flinch. "To me, she has to be, Sir. Trust me on that." Booth's anger vanished quickly, as he suddenly understood, that Charlie and his colleagues faced death and despair every day... just like him... and emotional distance simply was a way to keep yourself sane. The FBI agent swallowed hard and just nodded.

"She will be brought up in a minute. You stay with her?" Charlie asked and Booth nodded wordlessly. "Make sure her breathing and pulse stay stable. If it changes, yell." The EMT simply said and turned around to follow his colleagues to another stretcher. Booth reached for Brennan's limp hand and covered it with his own, warming it. "You're going to be alright." He murmured, more to his own comfort, since she was still unconscious.

Then two men moved towards the stretcher – and upon seeing the red tag – quickly lifted it up to carry Brennan out of the cellar. "You need to let go of her hand." One of them said and Booth hastily took a step back. "Of course." He mumbled and watched them carry her towards the door.

His eyes searched the cellar for one of the other agents and when he spotted Denton, he said: "I am going up with her."

Denton looked at him and simply nodded, fully understanding the man's need to be with his partner. Booth took in the scene one last time, the cells, the EMTs dealing with three women on stretchers, then he turned around to follow the two men who were carrying Bones upstairs.

* * *

Angela waited impatiently, her eyes fixed on the door, which was wide open to make it possible for the men with the stretchers to come out. She had wanted to run down the stairs and look for Brennan herself, but the men had held her back, telling her that the staircase was too narrow for her going down and the men coming up at the same time... and that they were going to bring the women up anyway.

So she stood there, barely controlling her urge to simply ignore the agent's explanation and hurry down to the cellar, her body practically shaking with the need to do something. She was clutching Hodgins' hand tightly again.

After a few endless long minutes she heard somebody coming up the stairs and she held her breath. Her eyes settled on the woman on the stretcher and disappointment showed on her face, when she realised that it was not her best friend.

"Red." One of the men carrying the stretcher announced and the FBI agent nodded, pointing into the direction of the cot. "The helicopter will land between the house and the cot. How many reds are coming?" "At least one more." Both men answered in unison, already on their way towards the cot.

Angela watched the exchange and whispered. "What does that mean?"

"That she has to get to the hospital urgently. Red is very critical. Yellow and green are stable enough to be transported with the ambulance car." The agent said.

Angela nodded, accepting the momentary distraction by the explanation, but swiftly returned her attention towards the staircase again, when she heard footsteps.

When she finally spotted her best friend on the stretcher, she let out a deep sigh of relief. "It's her. It's Bren." But all other words died on her lips when she saw that Brennan was not only unconscious, but that there was also a red tag attached to her stretcher. "Oh, no..." She whispered, her eyes filling with tears. Hodgins muttered a curse behind her and she heard Zach's sharp intake of breath.

A second later she saw Booth's face appear behind the men carrying her best friend. Angela swallowed hard when she saw that his eyes were red. "Booth... what... happened to her?" She choked out.

Booth gave her and the other squints one long look and then motioned for them to follow him and the men carrying the stretcher.

Angela watched how he walked beside his partner. Then he briefly and gently touched Brennan's hand with such a worried and tender look on his face... if Angela had had any doubts about the FBI agent's feelings for her best friend, that very look would have obliterated them.

After the brief contact Booth slowed his pace a little to walk beside Angela, and after a moment of silence he cleared his throat. "You remember the bloody knife? Looks like he stabbed her thigh. The wound is infected. Blood poisoning."

Angela gasped and he paused for a moment. "She thought I was not really there, Angela. She thought... I don't know. I had to talk to her for a while until she really believed I was there. The fever, I guess..."

His voice trailed off and Angela grabbed his hand, squeezing it tightly, wordlessly offering her support. "She nearly died. And she's not out of danger yet." Booth whispered, barely audible, concern in his voice.

"She is too stubborn to give up now." Angela said and a wry smile appeared on Booth's face.

Passing the cot, they heard the sound of a helicopter coming near and Booth sighed. "Take care of her."

"Don't YOU want to ride with her?" Angela asked, astonished.

"It's not about wanting, Angela. I can't leave. I am in charge here." He said, his voice grave, leaving no doubt that there was nothing he wanted more than to be in the helicopter with his partner.

"No, you aren't." A voice coming out of the shadow behind the cot startled them and Booth's eyes widened when he recognised it.

* * *

Uh, is that a cliffie?

Muahaha, I am so bad ;) Whose voice is it, what do you think?

Reviews would be awesome.


	30. Chapter 30

THANK YOU for your reviews. Many of you got it right, it's not The Collector standing in the shadow of that cot... but who is it?

* * *

Chapter 30: 

Booth stopped and whirled around to look at his boss.

Cullen greeted all of them with a nod. "Consider yourself pulled from the case because of... personal involvement, Booth. I'll stay here and co-ordinate the search for Roberts."

Booth breathed out slowly and gave his boss a thankful nod. "Thank you, Sir. Denton, Shriver and Morris are downstairs, they can give you a report."

Cullen just nodded again and motioned for him to join up with the men who were carrying his partner away. "Keep me informed, Booth." Cullen yelled after him, watching the younger man hurry after the squints. "Of course, Sir." He heard the agent reply, without turning back to look at him.

Sam Cullen gave the departing group of people one long look, then he walked along the narrow path through the wood towards the cellar where one of the most wanted serial killers had been hiding for months. He had been informed that one of the women they had found was dead and that the other four victims were in need of medical treatment. No surprise there. If Dr. Brennan's condition was any indicator, they all would have to stay in hospital for quite a while. Cullen had only caught a quick glimpse of her pale face, but the worried look on Booth's face would have told him as much.

Cullen sighed, while he resumed walking. He had always known that Booth cared a lot for his partner... maybe more than was considered appropriate between partners... and that was one of the reasons he hoped that Dr. Brennan was going to be alright.

The other reason was far more simple: Despite all her 'squintiness' he had grown to like her.

* * *

Angela looked down at the pale face of her best friend and placed a quick kiss on her cheek. "Don't do anything stupid, Sweetie." She whispered, her voice thick with emotion. Then he looked up at Booth, who was standing beside her, watching the helicopter land. 

"Booth" Angela yelled against the noise and wind, trying to keep the whirling strands of her hair out of her eyes. The FBI agent looked at her and she shouted: "Give me your keys. We'll drive to the hospital. And you take care of her!"

Booth nodded wordlessly and handed her the keys, then he watched how Angela ushered Zach and Hodgins towards the house. Now that her best friend was not in the hands of a killer anymore, it seemed she was able to take control again. A faint smile tugged on Booth's lips... Brennan was lucky to have such a team behind her, people who were more than just colleagues. They were friends... family, even.

A few moments later he was sitting in the helicopter, watching the emergency doctor fussing over his partner and although the flight only took only about ten minutes, he nearly managed to fall asleep, due to exhaustion.

All the tension and the adrenaline was now wearing off and with Brennan in the skilled hands of a physician he finally allowed himself to drop his mask, the mask of the confident FBI agent.

What was left, was a tired and worried man who feared for the life of the woman he loved.

His eyes widened. There, with Brennan's figure so still and pale on the stretcher before him, somewhere in the sky over DC he had dared to admit it to himself. Finally.

He looked down at his Bones again and hoped with all his heart that he was going to be given the chance to tell her.

* * *

Thirty minutes later, Angela, Zach and Hodgins found a half-dozing Booth in the waiting area of the hospital's surgery wing. 

His head jerked up, when he heard the squints hurrying towards him and Angela was not surprised to see dark circles under his eyes. She knew he had hardly slept since Brennan had been kidnapped.

"She is in surgery." He rasped, his voice hoarse. "They have to ... I don't know exactly what they are going to do, but they seemed to be pretty worried."

"Did she wake up during the flight?" Angela asked, while she sat down beside Booth, placing one hand on his shoulder and gripping Jack's sleeve tightly with the other, when she saw that Booth only shook his head.

She was somehow torn between being strong for Booth and breaking down. After a moment she swallowed hard and loosened her grip on Hodgins sweater... and chose being strong. For Brennan, for Booth, for all of them.

In her head she heard Brennan's voice commenting dryly: "How is you not breaking down going to help me?" And Angela smiled... somehow she knew that her best friend was going to make it. Temperance Brennan was a fighter.

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I know this one was kind of short, but the next one should be up soon. And as many of you suspected (and hoped, I guess) it was Cullen ... so I am not TOTALLY evil ;) 

Reviews make me happy.


	31. Chapter 31

THANK YOU for your reviews. I am sorry for the long wait, but I have been sick all week-end and I simple was not able to find the concentration to write ANYthing.. then I tried to put up this chapter yesterday, but it refused to work... but FINALLY now, here we go...

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Chapter 31:

Dr. Saroyan spotted the group of people she had been searching for and stopped, simply looking at them. Booth seemed to be dozing, his head against the hospital-typical white wall. Angela's head was resting against her fiancé's shoulder, her eyes closed, as were his. The only one who was visibly awake, was Zach. But he was still not seeing his boss, since he was busily reading one of the medical magazines that usually could be found in waiting rooms.

Cam sighed at the sight of the group of people... she had hoped that there would be news of any sort by now, but it seemed nothing had changed since Angela had called and told her that Brennan had to undergo surgery... which had been about two hours ago.

She straightened herself, desperately trying to look confident and optimistic, knowing that that was all the help she was able to offer. She walked towards the group and Booth's head jerked up, confirming her suspicion that he had been only dozing, not sleeping. Zach greeted her, keeping his voice low to not disturb his sleeping colleagues.

"Seeley" She said, giving Booth a wry smile. "Hey Cam." He gave back, his eyes tired and his voice low.

"Nothing new?" Cam asked softly and he simply shook his head. She sat down next to him and covered his hand with hers briefly. "If you want to talk,... I am here."

He sighed and nodded. "I know. Thank you." But he did not say anything else and so they waited in silence together, Zach burying his nose in the magazines, Cam simply observing the people who passed by ... and Booth closed his eyes again and rested his head back against the cold wall once more.

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"Are you here for Temperance Brennan?" A woman asked and Booth literally jumped to his feet. "Yeah." He choked out, his eyes fixed on the middle-aged doctor. Angela nudged Hodgins until he woke with a big yawn and rubbed his eyes.

The woman introduced herself as Dr. Harp, then started to talk about the woman the group was so obviously concerned about. "When Miss Brennan was brought in, she was septic, her body temperature was very high. The source of the sepsis was a knife wound on her thigh, that had been left untreated. It seems the infection spread very quickly, most likely due to her already weakened constitution and dehydration. We had to remove necrotic tissue from her vastus lateralis."

Booth looked at her, clearly not understanding what she was talking about. Cam saw his somewhat helpless look and whispered. "An upper thigh muscle."

Booth swallowed hard, nodded towards her and listened to what the doctor was telling them. "Luckily the infection spread superficial and we were able to preserve most of the muscular tissue. Miss Brennan will have to undergo physiotherapy but with time she should be able to regain full strength and ability to move the leg. We are now giving her antibiotics against the sepsis and infusions to re-stabilise her fluid balance.

"She is going to be alright, then?" Angela wheezed, voicing the thought that coursed through Booth's brain too.

"If she responds to the medication and stays stable for the next few days her prospects to make a full recovery are very good." Doctor Harp said and caused the group of people to heave a relieved sigh, almost in unison.

"When... can we see her?" Booth asked, somewhat cautiously.

The doctor gave him a long look and said. "She should be waking up within the next two hours. I can allow one person to wait with her, but only one. I can't have the wake-up room and the ICU crowded with people."

Booth bit his lip and looked at Angela, Brennan's best friend and after a long moment of silence he forced himself to say: "You should stay with her, Angela." But the artist only shook her head. "No. You stay with her, Booth. She would want you to be there and I know you'd go crazy if you were not there with her. Just... make sure to keep us informed, alright?"

Booth sighed, relief showing on his face. He was not quite sure how he would have endured to be kept separated from Bones for longer... so he was really happy that Angela had rejected the offer to stay with Brennan immediately. "Thank you." He simply said and his tone expressed his gratefulness far more convincing than his words.

Angela hugged him and whispered into his ear, too low for the others to hear. "Tell her how you feel about her. She deserves to know." She pulled back and winked at him. "And call me!"

"I will." Booth assured her and gave the other squints a long look. "See you later."

Cam smiled as she watched him go with the doctor and whispered to Angela. "You think she knows how much he cares about her?"

Angela shrugged. "I don't know. She is smart, but things like that are not her special field."

Zach gave them a questioning look and asked. "What are you whispering about?"

"Nothing." Angela and Cam gave back in unison and Zach frowned. "But... you were talking."

"Dude" Hodgins punched him playfully. "Don't even try. And trust me, sometimes it's better to not even know what girls are talking about."

They left the hospital together in a far better mood than ever since Brennan had gone missing.

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Reviews would be AWESOME!


	32. Chapter 32

Thank you again for your reviews and for the kind words, I am feeling fine again, thank you all! Once again, I already had this chapter finished yesterday, but the site refused to work properly for me... but now, finally, it worked.

Enjoy.

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Chapter 32:

Booth followed Dr. Harp, eager to see Bones with his own eyes, to know she was alright... to be able to touch her hand, just hold it... to feel a pulse, to know that The Collector had not taken her away from him. And suddenly a thought popped up in his mind and he groaned, when he noticed he had not even considered the possibility before. He stopped and shuddered at the mere thought of voicing the question, that was coursing through his brain. Asking it, saying the words aloud would make it seem more... real. Unable to move or utter a single word he simply stared at the doctor who was still walking.

After a few steps Dr. Harp noticed that the man who was supposed to follow her had stopped and she turned around, giving him a questioning look. She saw how different emotions were showing on his face, shock, horror, fear... or something similar.

Booth swallowed hard and looked straight into the physician's eyes. "I... " he stammered and had to stop. Then he took in a deep breath again, braced himself and asked. "She was kidnapped and held hostage for six days. Was ... Did you find anything indicating she was... raped?" He nearly choked on the last word.

Dr. Harp gave him a sympathetic look. "Normally I would not be allowed to talk about this, Mr. Booth." "Special Agent Booth." He supplied, hoping mentioning his rank would help.

She smiled, shook her head lightly and said. "I would like to stick with Mr. Booth, since this is not an official information, we won't bring in official titles, okay? You seem to be very concerned about Miss Brennan." She saw him nod eagerly and continued. "When the women were brought here we were informed where they came from and what they possibly went through. Miss Brennan's condition was – and still is - serious, but there were no signs of sexual abuse."

Booth closed his eyes and felt how relief washed over him, his knees threatening to buckle. "Thank God." He murmured barely audible.

"Would you follow me now?" Dr. Harp asked and he nodded and joined up with her.

* * *

One hour later, Booth was sitting beside Brennan's bed, holding her still too cold hand in his. His fatigue finally had caught up with him and despite all the noisy beeping of the machines, he had fallen asleep, his head resting against the wall.

But then his subconscious reacted to a change in the former steadily beeping of the machine and after a moment of disorientation, he found out why the sound suddenly had quickened.

Bones seemed to be having a nightmare... the quick beeping was her pulse. He looked at her pale face and saw that her eyes moved rapidly behind her eye lids.

"Sh, Bones" He whispered in a soothing voice. "I am here." But that did not seem to calm her at all, no it seemed to agitate her even more.

Booth looked at his partner, at a loss for what to do. You can't shake somebody tofresh out from surgery to wake her up, can you?

And then he suddenly remembered how she had reacted only to her given name when he had found her, not the nickname he used to call her with... how she had whispered: "You are real. You called me Temperance."

"Temperance." He said. "I am here. You're only dreaming. You're safe with me, Temperance." He gently squeezed her hand and felt how she reacted to him. Her breathing evened and only a few moments later the beeping sound of the machines monitoring her heart rate slowed down a little again.

He whispered her name again and again, repeating himself, telling her that she was safe with him and that he would be there for her when she woke up... and a few minutes later he felt her hand stir in his.

She did not yet wake up, but he saw that her face seemed to have a little more colour now and he was sure her hand had warmed a little. He sighed, relieved that he had brought her out of her nightmare into something he hoped was a relaxing sleep.

"I am so glad we found you." He whispered to the sleeping woman, his voice barely audible, but did it matter? She was still sleeping anyway. He sighed and in a low murmur he continued: "I don't know if I could live without you. I would not want to try."

She dreamed it again. Her nightmare, her very personal nightmare. She should be used to it already, but she was convinced nobody could ever get used to such a nightmare.

Dreaming that somebody – no, not only somebody, but Booth... Booth - was here to rescue you when in fact there was no spark of hope left ... that was not only a nightmare it was torture. Far more inventive and effective than anything The Collector could come up with.

His voice echoed in her brain, the nickname he had given her and she had got used to by now. "Bones" He said. "I am here." And her fingers touched cold concrete again.

But then something changed... a new variation of her nightmare?

She felt something warm, something holding her hand and words – his voice - evaded her mind. "Temperance, you're only dreaming. You're safe with me, Temperance."

And she accepted it. Booth was here, holding her hand talking to her and everything was going to be alright... The cell, the concrete walls... the grey and cold images faded and she felt herself relax, the sound of his voice bringing her peace and finally lulling her back into a dreamless state of sleep.

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Please let me know if you liked the chapter...

Reviews would be AWESOME!


	33. Chapter 33

Hi again!!! Sorry for the delay, but that was one hell of a weekend, I tell you! My BF and my mum both were ill and I had to play nurse ... and then I finally had time to get online and duh! My computer made problems... but now, here we are again ;)

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Chapter 34:

"Mr. Booth?" A voice from the doorway startled him out of his dozing state and he looked up, squinting a little bit at the light. A nurse was standing there "Here is somebody to see you. A Mr. Cullen." Booth's eyes widened slightly and he nodded. He looked down at Brennan's pale face, her closed eyes and bit his bottom lip. He did not want to leave her, but he was sure the talk with Cullen was not going to take long... or at least he hoped so. But leaving her alone? What if she chose exactly that moment to wake up – alone, afraid, not knowing where she were?

The nurse seemed to understand his inner debate. "I can stay with her, if it doesn't take too long." Booth gave her a thankful smile. "That would be great. I don't want her to wake up all alone. She's been alone for too long." The nurse nodded, although she did not understand the comment and moved towards Brennan's bed and Booth quickly rose and hurried towards the door to meet his boss.

Cullen took in Booth's dishevelled and tired appearance when he emerged from the room for a long moment, then - with nothing more than a nod for a greeting – he asked. "How is she?"

The younger man answered in a tired voice. "She should wake up any moment, Sir. They had to remove part of a muscle in her leg, she had an infection. But ... if things go smoothly, she should recover completely."

Cullen nodded slowly. "Good... Good. And ... how are you holding up?"

Booth was taken aback by Cullen's concern and stood in silence for a moment, then he sighed. "I'll feel a lot better when she is awake. You know, talking me down with her scientific squint-babble. I am actually looking forward to that." Booth said with a wry smile.

His boss nodded again and said. "I won't keep you from her for long, Booth. I know she means a lot to you." It wasn't a question, so Booth did not comment the statement.

Cullen continued. "I think you will be glad to hear that we arrested Roberts."

For a moment Booth had the feeling as if the world had stopped turning, as if every living being had paused for a second to acknowledge these words.

"Thank God." Booth exhaled. "How? Where?"

"We found a trail of blood in the wood. Not much, but since we knew you probably shot him, we looked closer. He had a car parked on a lodging road near the exit... only a few yards through the thicket, but the... uhm... nature of his injury made riding in a car kind of uncomfortable, I think... so he soon tried to flee by foot. Needless to say that wasn't his smartest idea. Our people tracked him down and arrested him about an hour ago. He did not even fight, he just whined about getting the bullet removed. It is amazing... that bastard did the most cruel things to these poor women, but one bullet wound and he turned out to be whinier than a toddler." Cullen mused.

"So I did not miss him? That's good. He deserves pain. A lot of it. " Booth said with a grim face.

"Oh, yeah, you got him. I bet he regards you as his very personal pain in the ass now. And I don't mean it as a figure of speech. You really shot him in the arse, Booth." Cullen could not suppress a chuckle.

"I did?" Booth asked, recalling how he had fired into the dark shadows of the entrance to the wine cellar, but then he smirked. "Yeah, well... can't say I feel sorry for him."

"Me neither" Cullen grinned "Of course, we had no ambulance handy to transport him to the hospital to get the bullet removed. He complained a lot during the ride, but Morris told him that he should have thought about that before injuring so many women we had no ambulance left for him."

Booth quirked an eyebrow. "How many ambulance cars were still there?"

"Two." Cullen grinned back. "Yeah, well... what a pity my walkie-talkie did not work. How should I have known?" They exchanged a conspiratorial glance.

Booth smiled a little and nodded slowly. "Wow. I... can't believe it's over. After all those weeks we worked on that case..." He swallowed hard. He would not quite believe it until he saw Roberts in jail with his own eyes.

Cullen nodded and was about to say something, when the nurse appeared in the doorway. "She seems to be waking up, Mr. Booth." Booth whirled around to hurry inside, but then he remembered that his boss was still standing there... He could not just leave like that, could he? He turned around again to find Cullen giving him an understanding look. "Go." He said. "She'll be happy to see a familiar face."

"Yes. Thank you, Sir. Also for telling me about the arrest." Booth gave his boss a short nod, then hurried inside the room again, to make sure the first thing his partner was going to see was indeed a familiar face.

* * *

Something was... different. Her eyelids felt heavy and her head as if stuffed with cotton wool. And there was something in her mouth and her throat felt kind of sore. But there was no pain... no pain at all and that was something new. And she did not feel cold. Not hot, either. Was she too feverish to even feel her body anymore?

She felt numb, peacefully numb... what had happened? She remembered hazy pictures of how The Collector had told her to wash herself, but she had passed out. Then he had tortured her with cold and hot water. There were parts of the memories missing, when the fever had blurred her brain too much to be able to store the things that had happened. But the memories, nothing more than snippets, were enough.

She was quite sure that there had been some odd ringing... The Collector had said something and had thrown the bucket away. Then darkness had claimed her. But what had happened then?

And then she remembered... her nightmare had returned... only that this time it had not been a nightmare. The sudden knowledge that this time she had not only been dreaming of Booth coming to her, rescuing her, but that he really had been there hit her with full force. The shock – albeit a positive one – let her gasp. Or at least she made the attempt.

The thing in her mouth was a tube and made it impossible for her to gasp. But she managed to open her eyes, she had to blink a few times until they adjusted to the light... but even though her gaze was blurred and her head felt light, she immediately knew who was standing next to her bed. She did not need to see him, did not need to smell his scent or feel his warm and strong hand holding hers. She did not even need to hear his voice. She just knew he would be there. Because he was Booth and he would always be there for her.

He was talking to her, she realised, her still somehow numb brain processing the information that it was his voice, although she did not yet grasp the meaning of the words he was saying. She blinked again, slowly this time, and her vision cleared a bit. And she saw his face, his dark brown eyes, that always showed how he was feeling even when he managed to keep his face blank.

And now his eyes were filled with tears.

And finally her hearing returned... or rather her ability to connect the dots between the noises she heard and the words they were supposed to form. Somewhere mid-sentence she started to understand his rambling "... and you'll be alright. You're strong. You'll be fine." Then he paused and when he continued something in his voice had changed, its tone had become more tender. "I was so scared, Temperance. Scared of losing you. I can't lose you, you know. I need you."

Tears started to fill her eyes and she wanted to tell him that she needed him too... that he was the one person who anchored her, that he meant so much to her, but she could not say a word, the tube in her mouth effectively stopping every sound. So she only squeezed his hand and looked at him, stared into his eyes, trying to convey her feelings with nothing more than the expression on her tired face.

Booth looked at her and saw that her eyes glistened with tears too, felt how her hand squeezed his and he knew she had understood his words and the meaning. He gently wiped away her tears with his thumb and whispered. "'Oh, Temperance."

She closed her eyes, when he said her name, she was still tired, so tired and she had to sleep... and the sound of his voice saying her name was her safety net, keeping her from falling into another nightmare, making sure she stayed in a healthy, relaxing sleep. Her breathing evened again and the grip on Booth's hand loosened.

"I love you." He whispered.

* * *

Dun-dun! What do you say? Did you like it? Was it worth the wait? It was a longer one, this time ;)

I know the arrest of The Collector was somewhat unspectacular, but sometimes it is just like that... And I daresay, we are all far more interested in what is happening with Bones thatn with Roberts, right? Oh, and I wanted him to be all whiny about the wound, cause that's just how many bullies are. Give them control, somebody weaker than them to dominate and they think they're the strong ones, but in fact if you take away all that, they often are just wimps.

Reviews would be super-awesome!

Oh and be prepared for the inevitable: The story will come to an end soon. I think there will be one more chapter and an epilogue.


	34. Chapter 34

Hi again!!! Thank you all so much for your wonderful reviews, I am overwhelmed! I am so glad you people still like this story!!!

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Chapter 34:

His voice had guided her into a dream. A wonderful dream... her body did not hurt and she felt wonderful, as if floating in warm water. And he was there with her, not only his voice, but he himself. He was holding her in his strong arms and told her that he loved her. And for once her analytical mind did not question, just accept... and she decided to enjoy her dream for as long as it was going to last.

* * *

Two days later Booth was sitting beside Brennan's bed once more. Only that it was a different bed now. She had been moved to a normal hospital room 24 hours after her surgery, since she had been recovering satisfactorily.

But she had spent most of the time asleep and when she had woken up then it had only been for a few moments, barely enough for the doctors to remove the tube and ask her some basic questions. Exhausted as she was she had been asleep again only ten minutes after she had woken up.

The doctors had told Booth that it was a good sign she was sleeping that much. The medication worked and she was recovering better than they had anticipated. But he longed to hear her voice. He felt somewhat selfish for his silent pleas for her to wake up long enough to actually talk with him, but he could not help himself. He needed her.

He had only left her side for two hours, when he had driven home to eat something, shower and change clothes. For these two hours, Angela had been watching over her sleeping best friend. The artist had suggested that Booth should spend a few hours at home, get some sleep, but he had refused. And Angela had given him a long look and had said: "I understand." Then she had given him a brief hug and had left.

And there he was sitting now, beside her bed, holding her hand and watching her sleep, wishing she would wake up for just a moment to let him see the clear blue of her eyes.

And as if her subconscious had decided to obey to his silent plea, the rhythm of her breathing changed slightly and her eye-lids fluttered open. She blinked several times, but when she spotted his face, his smile, recognition dawned and a tiny smile crept on her face.

"Hey." She said, her voice a little rough. "Hey yourself." Booth murmured huskily.

"How long have I been asleep?" She asked after a moment and he gave her a wry grin.

"In total or since the last time you've been awake?"

"Both?" She asked, uncertain.

"2 days in total. Ten hours and twenty minutes since the last time you've been - more or less – awake." He quickly reported... not that he had been counting every single minute.

"Huh." She made, taken aback by the detailed information. Her gaze quickly moved to the infusion beside her bed and she murmured. "Antibiotics?"

"Yep. And pain killers." Booth confirmed. She briefly closed her eyes and sighed. "No wonder I slept that much."

"You seem to be more... lucid now." Booth commented. "The last time you were awake you barely recognised me." There was a hint of hurt in his voice.

She shook her head slightly. "I knew you were here. Thank you for being here."

"Temperance... there is no other place I would want to be right now." His voice was husky and so full of emotion and tenderness her eyes widened and she wondered if all the things she had been dreaming had really been dreams. Had he been holding her? She dismissed the thought immediately... of course not, she was lying in a hospital bed, had had surgery. He would not risk hurting her. But... had he been saying those words... only in her dreams?

"Hey? You still there?" Booth asked and she blinked, realising she'd been staring at him for some time now. "Sorry." She mumbled. "I was wondering if..." She stopped herself just in time. What the hell had that been? Had she really just been about to ask him if he had said he loved her? Now if the answer was no, that would have been just a little bit mortifying. But... the question was still there... nagging at her.

"Please stay awake for some time." He suddenly blurted out, watching her.

She raised an eyebrow, a tiny movement that was so part of her usual behaviour he could have cried over it. "Okay."

"I missed you." Booth said, squeezing her hand. "Bones... Maybe this is the wrong time and place, but I ... need to tell you something." He hesitated, searching her face for a reaction.

She swallowed hard upon hearing the serious undertone in his voice and simply nodded encouragingly, not trusting her voice.

"Bones... I missed you so much. I was so scared of losing you." His voice was a whisper... he lifted his hand to touch her cheek. "You mean so much to me. More than I ever thought possible. I...I love you, Temperance."

Tears sprang to her eyes upon hearing those words, the same words as in her dream. "Booth." She whispered... unable to utter another word she just turned her head a little, until her lips rested against his palm and placed a soft kiss on the smooth skin of the inside of his hand. She heard how his breath hitched, before he murmured. "Losing you would have killed me. Thank you for staying alive until I found you. Thank you for fighting."

Her body suddenly went rigid and she turned her head away from him, from his touch.

Shocked, he just stared at her for a moment, then he choked out. "What?... What's wrong? Did I say something wrong? Bones?"

Upon hearing her nickname, she started to sob, only barely audible first, but soon she cried openly, the sound of her sobs tearing at his heart. "Hey... hey... I am here. Come on, hush...You are safe with me, remember?" He tried to comfort her, his hand caressing her cheek, although she still looked into the other direction, sobs shaking her body. "Bones... talk to me." He whispered. "What's wrong?"

Between sobs she choked out. "What's wrong? You thanked me for fighting. But I didn't... I gave up, Booth. I gave up. I... just wanted to die... I... I..." Another crying fit shook her and he gently stroked her hair, but she stubbornly refused to look at him. "I wanted him to kill me. I was weak."

It took him a moment to process the information, to understand what she was telling him. And he was shocked that she had been so desperate. But not surprised. And not disappointed either.

For a moment, he thought of how to respond... and he knew that being honest was his only option. He took her face in his hands and gently turned her head, so that she was facing him. She was ashamed of herself, he could see it in her eyes. She squirmed under his gaze, made a weak attempt to turn away, but he would have none of it, so she closed her eyes, to shut him out.

"Look at me." He said, a gentle command and she swallowed hard, but obeyed him. "Do you think I am a man that gives up easily?"

"You don't give up. Ever." She said, a confidence in her voice that startled him for a moment. A wry smile tugged on his lips and he shook his head slightly. "You've seen my X-rays, Bones. You know I have been tortured."

She swallowed hard again, her ever-busy brain supplying her with unwanted memories of the x-rays, of what techniques had been used on him. She nodded.

"Three days." He said and she blinked, not understanding. "It took three days to break me, Bones. Three days and I had completely given up. I wanted to die, I just wanted to be dead and never ever feel pain again."

Her eyes widened, both in astonishment and understanding and after a moment of silence she whispered: "What happened?"

"They brought in a buddy of mine. And I started to fight again. I would not have been able to fight for myself, but I was able to fight for him, Bones. He was younger than me, nothing more than a boy, really. But the point is, I needed somebody to get me out of that black hole I had fallen in. You had nobody there, Bones... you were ill and you were in that cell for six days. Don't blame yourself. Don't be ashamed." He looked at her, and she met his gaze and suddenly he saw something change in the depth of her blue eyes, that were still brimming with tears.

"I was so alone. I knew he would kill me. I only hoped he would do it quickly... not ... rape me. I even hoped my fever was going to make me unconscious or kill me before he would come back again. I... was scared." The words started to pour out of her as did more tears and he moved closer to her, carefully gathering her into his arms and held her tight while she sobbed against his chest. "I know, Baby." He murmured into her ear. "I know... but you're not alone anymore and you 're safe with me."

"I dreamed you would come to help me. But then there was no door... and you kept calling me and I could not come to you." She sobbed and he stroked her back, tears in his eyes when he heard how painful and cruel her own dreams had been to her. "That's why you thought I was not real." He whispered after some time, only now really understanding.

"Mh-hm." She mumbled against his chest, considerably calmer now. He placed a kiss on her hair. "If I tell you that I shot him in the ass, would that make you feel any better?"

She pulled back a little and looked at him incredulously. "Are you serious?"

He gave her a crooked grin. "They arrested him. He wanted to escape in a car, but a bullet in the ass can be pretty painful... especially if you try to sit on it. He tried to flee by foot, but they tracked him down."

Brennan looked at him for a while, taking in the information and then she nodded. "Yes. I feel a little better. But... why didn't you shoot him... somewhere else?"

"I did not actually plan to shoot him in the butt, Bones. It was too dark to see anything." He smiled at her, glad that she seemed to have calmed down a little. He knew that there were going to be more nightmares and more tears... but he also knew that he would be there for her and he hoped that he would be able to help her out of the dark hole every time it started to close in on her again.

Brennan looked into his face, at the tender smile he wore and she suddenly knew beyond doubt that she loved this man. "Thank you." She whispered.

"For what?" He asked, frowning slightly.

She raised her hand and touched his cheek. "For being you." She murmured and cupped his face with her hands, pulling him near. Kissing him.

And he kissed her back and for the next few minutes, she forgot about anything else except the man she was sure would always come to save her. Her partner.

* * *

Now, it is sad but true, this was the last chapter... but before you start to complain... there will be an epilogue... to tie up loose ends, so to say.

Please let me know if you liked this hospital scene...

Reviews would be super-awesome!


	35. Chapter 35

Hello my dear readers. First of all, I want to **thank you**, all of you, who read this story and of course very **special thanks** to those who left reviews. There are some people out there who left reviews on nearly every single chapter and that's absolutely awesome. You rock!

Here we go... this is the end of this story, the epilogue. It is hard to end this story, it feels somehow odd, since I spent so much time with it, but it is time... A story has to end somewhere and I hope I picked a good moment ;) Enjoy.

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_**Epilogue...**_

_7 weeks later..._

Brennan felt something brush her cheek, something soft. The sensation returned, soft and warm, and her awakening brain soon had found out what it was, that she was feeling. Kisses.

"Morning." A male voice whispered into her ear and caused a lazy smile to appear on her lips. His 'morning voice' - as she called it secretly – was drop dead sexy, a little husky and rough from the soft snoring noises he had made all night. The first few nights she had been sleeping next to him, she had thought she would never get used to the sound.

Well, she was used to it by now. In fact, she was even thankful for it. She had spent one night apart of him since she had returned from hospital and it had been a disaster. Nightmares had tortured her all night. With Booth by her side it was different... it was as if the soft snoring, the background noise she had got used to, somehow anchored her enough to keep the nightmares away. Or maybe it was his presence. The warm embrace he encircled her in, every evening before he drifted off to sleep. Even when she entangled herself from his arms in her sleep, she never had nightmares, when he was with her.

Another kiss – this time his lips claimed hers - interrupted her thoughts and she eagerly responded to him. After some time he pulled back a little. "NOW you're awake, hmmm?" He smirked at her and she smiled back. "Definitely. Somebody else is too, I guess." She grinned mischievously, her eyes settling meaningful somewhere beyond his waistline.

Booth grimaced. "Theoretically – yes. Practically, we have to be at court in an hour. And I know you'll want to go through your notes again."

"Women can multi-task." Brennan replied, trying to keep her face serious.

He gave her an incredulous look. "Nu-uh" He shook his head. "You're not going to revise your notes while I am making you come. No way."

"You know, I was talking about reading my notes during the drive to the court." She grinned and ran her fingernails playfully over his bare chest.

"Now that sounds reasonable." He murmured and heaved a sigh when her hand travelled over his stomach.

"But I fear I still have to shower, eat breakfast, do my hair and make-up... no time for this." She replied, her hand slowly moving over his thigh.

"Damn, Bones... stop teasing." He hissed at her, as she drew a circle with her finger... dangerously near to his groin. As if he needed encouragement down there.

"Of course we could save time... if we shower together." She suggested, smiling an innocent smile at him.

"That's it." He growled, a deliciously male sound that made her shiver. "Shower, now." He jumped to his feet and looked at her expectantly.

"Me want woman. Ugh" She mimicked his monosyllabic answer in a Neanderthal grunt, grinning wickedly. "Damn right." He growled again and simply scooped her up in his arms, causing her to shriek a little, in a very non-Bones way. "Me make love to woman. Now." He grunted into her ear, while he carried her towards the bathroom.

"Alpha-male." She teased, winking at him.

"Be nice," he said in a chiding tone, while he put her down in the bathroom, reaching for the tap. "Or the water will be cold."

"Ha." She made. "That would affect you worse than me." A meaningful glance to his mid-section.

"I know a warm place where I could find refuge." He whispered into her ear, his tongue quickly darting out to lick her earlobe. She shivered. "Is that so?" She sighed and he nodded. "Well then... what are you waiting for?" She whispered and shoved him towards the shower.

* * *

An hour later they were sitting in the courtroom and watched Caroline Julian wipe the courtroom floor with Roberts, just as she had promised.

Brennan had reached for Booth's hand when Roberts had entered the court room, flanked by two guards, his hands cuffed he did not look scary anymore. But still, she had held her breath for a moment when she set eye on him.

She was still breathing a little bit faster than usual a few minutes later, when everybody was seated.

"Everything alright?" Booth whispered, concern in his voice. She nodded and after a moment she whispered back. "Caroline is going to kick his ass, right there were you shot him."

He had to suppress a chuckle and stole another side-glance at her face.

Seeing the man who had captured and tortured her affected her, the slight frown on her face was evidence enough. But she did not seem to be terrified or on the verge of a breakdown.

All in all her reaction was a healthy and normal one... no reaction at all would have made him worry.

He leant closer to her, whispering into her ear. "You still sure you want to make a testimony? You don't need to... There is enough evidence without your findings."

He saw how determination showed on her face. "No. I want to prove the connection to all the victims we found. Every single woman he ever got deserves to be heard. And I want to contribute to his conviction with my work, my findings."

Booth simply nodded. He understood, that she needed to face this...

She was here to talk about the bodies she had examined, but without doubt they were going to ask her about her "first-hand experience" while held hostage by The Collector. He had told her as much a few days ago, but she had figured it out by herself already. She knew what was going to come.

"This is my only chance to strike back, Booth." She had told him and he had accepted her choice.

Two hours later, she was sitting in the witness stand and had already talked about all her findings, the facts she had found... mentioned the names of all the women that had died by The Collector's hand.

And then she was asked the inevitable question by the judge. "Dr. Brennan... I know you have been captured by The Collector yourself. How long have you been in his hands?"

She squared her shoulders and met the judge's gaze calmly. "Six days, your honour."

"This is not going to be in the protocol... I am just curious. Are you here as a witness because of personal feelings... seeking revenge?" The judge asked, cautiously.

Brennan shook her head. "No. I am here because of the truth, your honour. And because every name on this list needed to be read out aloud." She pointed towards the list in front of her, the names of the women she had identified. Then she met the gaze of Roberts, who had been staring at her... he was the first to avert his eyes and for a moment she wallowed in the good feeling the small victory gave her.

The judge gave her a long look and then nodded thoughtfully. "Any more questions for this witness?" He asked and after a negation of both sides, she was allowed to return to Booth's side. "You did great." Booth whispered and she smiled at him. "Thank you."

He squeezed her hand gently and the rest of the trial day went by in a blur. In the evening, after the hearing had been adjourned until the next day, they left the building, hand in hand.

"He is never going to come out of jail." Booth said after a moment of silence, while they were walking towards the car, Brennan still limping slightly. "Just as his victims and their families never will be able to forget what he did to them." She answered, her voice low.

Booth stopped and turned towards her, looking at her. "I am okay, Booth." She said, answering his unvoiced question. "I will never forget what happened, but I am okay."

After a pause she added. "Just make sure to snore tonight." The hint of humour in her voice and the words made him quirk an eyebrow and he asked. "What? Why?"

"Just so I know you are there." Brennan replied and snuggled against his chest. He put his arms around her and held her wordlessly for some time, then he murmured. "I think you are the first woman who ever begged a man to snore."

She chuckled. "You know, it also makes your voice sound sexy in the morning."

"Does that mean my voice doesn't sound sexy the rest of the day?" He asked, acting as if he was wounded by her statement.

She pulled back and smiled at him. "You're fishing for compliments. I am not going for that bait."

"Come on... let's drive home... we can talk about sexy voices and snoring over dinner." He said playfully and they walked towards their car, effectively putting The Collector out of their thoughts, for that evening at the very least.

* * *

Haha, I was seriously tempted to end the epilogue with a "All was well" ;) very Harry Potter – like ;) or with an "and they lived happily ever after"... but that would be... ugh... too kitschy, right?  
So whoever needs that kind of closure is welcome to enter a "happy" sentence of his/her free choosing... including things like: 'And they went home for hot monkey sex' or similar ;) ... Would be fun to read your suggestions in your reviews (you'll leave a review, yes??? Pretty please???? You can't see it but I can do this big puppy-dog eyes thing...)  
Oh, and please... would you include in your feeback if I need to change the rating to M for this chapter? I don't think so, but advice would be nice!!!

You know, people... I will miss this story. I liked writing it. And I loved all your reviews, you are all awesome. I really hope you will consider reading one of my other stories too.

Thank you all for your support and your reviews, your suggestions and for reading!!!

Hugs,

CheeseBK


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